Ubuntu Server & NTP

Sync time on your Ubuntu Server with NTP (Network Time Protocol)

When dealing with daylight savings time one has to deal with the problem of time difference going +/-X hours awry between the actual time and time on the server. The problem gets worst if your server is handling time critical business transactions.

So here is a simple solution. Write a small script to sync time with a NTP server of your choice and schedule the script through crontab.

Create a file with any editor of your choice and paste the following script and save it to any directory e.g ~/useful_scripts/.

#!/bin/sh
ntpdate ntp.lth.se

Don’t forget to make the script executable and then schedule it to run periodically through crontab. Here I am using one of the nearest ntp servers so you should change it according to your location. The closer the better it is.

It will save you from a lot of headaches of dealing with customers complaining about time related problems the very next morning of clock shift for DST which happen every year twice.