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Posted to user@vcl.apache.org by "Waldron, Michael H" <mw...@email.unc.edu> on 2011/07/08 17:58:32 UTC

GMT time on ESXi hosts

I have noticed a problem with time display on some images when they are run on VMware ESXi hosts vs. VMware Server 1.08 hosts.

A Windows 7 image reports the correct time when run on a VMware Server 1.08 host, however the same image running on an ESXi host reports the time 4 hours ahead (GMT), although it says EDT.
Example:
Fri Jul  8 11:52:05 EDT 2011
Fri Jul  8 15:52:05 EDT 2011

When I connect to the ESXi host via the vShpere client, the time is the correct EDT time, however when I ssh to the ESXi host and run date, it displays the GMT time.

Interestingly, a WinXP image displays the correct EDT time on the ESXi host, as well as an Ubuntu image.

Has anyone else seen this behavior with ESXi hosts?


Mike Waldron
Systems Specialist
ITS Research Computing
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
CB #3420, ITS Manning, Rm 2509
919-962-9778

Re: GMT time on ESXi hosts

Posted by Sean Dilda <se...@duke.edu>.
ESXi keeps time in GMT only (no timezone) and presents time to the guest 
as GMT.

Every OS has a configuration option for if the hardware clock is set to 
GMT or localtime.  It sounds like your XP and ubuntu images are 
configured differently than your windows 7 image.

I'd suggest installing ntp on all of your images and not worrying about 
the problem.

On 7/8/11 11:58 AM, Waldron, Michael H wrote:
> I have noticed a problem with time display on some images when they are
> run on VMware ESXi hosts vs. VMware Server 1.08 hosts.
>
> A Windows 7 image reports the correct time when run on a VMware Server
> 1.08 host, however the same image running on an ESXi host reports the
> time 4 hours ahead (GMT), although it says EDT.
> Example:
> Fri Jul 8 11:52:05 EDT 2011
> Fri Jul 8 15:52:05 EDT 2011
>
> When I connect to the ESXi host via the vShpere client, the time is the
> correct EDT time, however when I ssh to the ESXi host and run date, it
> displays the GMT time.
>
> Interestingly, a WinXP image displays the correct EDT time on the ESXi
> host, as well as an Ubuntu image.
>
> Has anyone else seen this behavior with ESXi hosts?
>
>
> Mike Waldron
> Systems Specialist
> ITS Research Computing
> University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
> CB #3420, ITS Manning, Rm 2509
> 919-962-9778