How to Change Time Zones on Servers

If you want to change the existing time zone of your server. Then follow the steps Below.

Note:: One must have a root user privileges for this.

On Linux Server::

1. Login as a Root.
2. The time zones are located on server in the directory /usr/share/zoneinfo, so change the directory to that one.

Code:

root@Server [~]# cd /usr/share/zoneinfo

3. Copy or move the current local time zone so that you will be able to set the time zone as per requirement.

Code:

root@Server [~]#cp -p /etc/localtime  /etc/localtime-back
Or
root@Server [~]#mv /etc/localtime  /etc/localtime-back

4. Now say for example, if you want to set the BST [British Summer Time] time zone for your server then, you will need to create a symbolic link for the same. The command is as follows.

Code:

root@Server [~]#ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/BST  /etc/localtime

Verify the changes done by "date" command.

Code:

root@Server [~]#date

Thu Feb  9 12:26:30 GMT 2012