Thread: How do I set the system time on production server?
Hi All, I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. So, is there a way to set the date/time? I've hit the mail archives, searchable docs, gone through Bruce Momjian's book, hit google, even sacrificed a few chickens just on the off chance, and found nothing. Lots of queries about dates, times, or how to find the current system time...but not how to SET the current system date. Argh! Help! (P.S. I'd _love_ an RTFM answer as long as you tell me where the FM is...;^) --- Ken Corey CTO Atomic Interactive, Ltd. http://www.atomic-interactive.com
----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Corey" <ken.corey@atomic-interactive.com> > > Lots of queries about dates, times, or how to find the current system > time...but not how to SET the current system date. > why don't u do it on a OS level? It seems weird that you want to fix a hardware/OS problem (incorrect server time) from Postgres Marin ---- "...what you brought from your past, is of no use in your present. When you must choose a new path, do not bring old experiences with you. Those who strike out afresh, but who attempt to retain a little of the old life, end up torn apart by their own memories. "
On Fri, 15 Mar 2002, Ken Corey wrote: > Hi All, > > I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the > current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. > > So, is there a way to set the date/time? I've hit the mail archives, > searchable docs, gone through Bruce Momjian's book, hit google, even > sacrificed a few chickens just on the off chance, and found nothing. If you're logged into a shell on the system is the time off there as well? If so, use the OS's tools to change the date/time.
Ken - Note that we're talking _system_ time, so you won't find the answer in the RDBMS docs - it's in the underlying OS docs. You don't mention what OS you're running, and what it's idea of the current time is, so we can't help you very well. If it's some flavor of unix, try looking at 'man date'. Personally, I use ntp to keep my linux system sync'ed with a timeserver on campus. Ross On Fri, Mar 15, 2002 at 05:29:32PM +0000, Ken Corey wrote: > Hi All, > > I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the > current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. > > So, is there a way to set the date/time? I've hit the mail archives, > searchable docs, gone through Bruce Momjian's book, hit google, even > sacrificed a few chickens just on the off chance, and found nothing. > > Lots of queries about dates, times, or how to find the current system > time...but not how to SET the current system date. > > Argh! Help! > > (P.S. I'd _love_ an RTFM answer as long as you tell me where the FM is...;^) > > --- > Ken Corey CTO Atomic Interactive, Ltd. http://www.atomic-interactive.com > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- > TIP 2: you can get off all lists at once with the unregister command > (send "unregister YourEmailAddressHere" to majordomo@postgresql.org)
On Friday 15 March 2002 18:29, Ken Corey wrote: > Hi All, > > I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the > current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. > > So, is there a way to set the date/time? I've hit the mail archives, > searchable docs, gone through Bruce Momjian's book, hit google, even > sacrificed a few chickens just on the off chance, and found nothing. > > Lots of queries about dates, times, or how to find the current system > time...but not how to SET the current system date. Umm, the system date/time is generally the responsibility of your server hardware / operating system. In a shell, what does 'date' say? Ian Barwick PS tip for all those who haven't tried it: do not attempt to sacrifice chickens in your server room, the feathers tend to get stuck in the ventilation.
On Fri, 2002-03-15 at 17:29, Ken Corey wrote: Seeing this is dated 15th March, you may have hade a reply already, but I haven't seen it. > Lots of queries about dates, times, or how to find the current system > time...but not how to SET the current system date. As root: date 032017012002.32 will set the date to 2002-03-20 17:01:32 See the manual page for date. -- Oliver Elphick Oliver.Elphick@lfix.co.uk Isle of Wight http://www.lfix.co.uk/oliver GPG: 1024D/3E1D0C1C: CA12 09E0 E8D5 8870 5839 932A 614D 4C34 3E1D 0C1C "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Ken Corey writes: > I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the > current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. > > So, is there a way to set the date/time? The system time is inherited from the operating system. You can use date(1) or maybe hwclock(8) to alter the system time. On some systems it is not recommended to change the system time because that messes up all kinds of scheduling, so if you can afford it, reboot and change the time in the BIOS. You should find information in those man pages about the recommended way to do it on your system. -- Peter Eisentraut peter_e@gmx.net
On Wed, Mar 20, 2002 at 12:22:13PM -0500, Peter Eisentraut wrote: > Ken Corey writes: > > > I've just realized that our (production, naturally) database's idea of the > > current date/time is 24 hours and 14 minutes fast. What a weird thing. > > > > So, is there a way to set the date/time? > > The system time is inherited from the operating system. You can use > date(1) or maybe hwclock(8) to alter the system time. On some systems it > is not recommended to change the system time because that messes up all > kinds of scheduling, so if you can afford it, reboot and change the time > in the BIOS. You should find information in those man pages about the > recommended way to do it on your system. A previous email mentioned ntp. Personally, I'd use the above approach and then maintain the clock with ntpdate. This program references and ntp time server and gently syncs your system clock to the one true time. I prefer this to running the ntp daemon propper, since that strikes me as overkill on most systems, and it adds yet another security issue to pay attention to. Stick it as a cron job every couple of hours or so and it'll keep your clock in line. Like all things ntp, you have to set your system clock to GMT, but that shouldn't be a problem unless you're running a braindead OS. Anyway, for a time gap as big as the one you mentioned, there's probably no way to really fix it gently. -- Andrew G. Hammond mailto:drew@xyzzy.dhs.org http://xyzzy.dhs.org/~drew/ 56 2A 54 EF 19 C0 3B 43 72 69 5B E3 69 5B A1 1F 613-389-5481 5CD3 62B0 254B DEB1 86E0 8959 093E F70A B457 84B1 "To blow recursion you must first blow recur" -- me