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AlanCheng1978
Contributor
Contributor

esxi 6.7 timezone config?

Dear All,

Have any one know where can set the TimeZone under ESXi 6.7?

i have following the command with  VMware Knowledge Base , but can't find that file on ESXi 6.7.

Best Regards

Alan Cheng

10 Replies
Yves_
Contributor
Contributor

ESXi hosts

ESXi uses UTC time and does not support changing time zones.

In ESXi 3.5, you see the message:

Note: The date and time of the host have been translated to the local time of this VI Client.

In ESXi 4.x and ESXi 5.x, you see the message:

Note: The date and time of the host have been translated to the local time of this vSphere Client.

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HassanAlKak88
Expert
Expert

Hello,

Noting that the reason to not found that file, it was due to this procedure work max with ESX 4.1.x (as per the supported product on the right panel).

Regarding the edit time on ESXi host, follow this link: Edit Time Configuration for a Host

To change the Time settings for vCenter, find the following: Configure the System Time Zone and Time Synchronization Settings

Accordingly, the time zone at ESXi level couldn't be changed from web client, try to set the time zone at bios level (Hardware).

Please consider marking this answer "CORRECT" or "Helpful" if you think your question have been answered correctly.

Cheers,

VCIX6-NV|VCP-NV|VCP-DC|

@KakHassan

linkedin.com/in/hassanalkak


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Regards,
Hassan Alkak
diegodco31
Leadership
Leadership

ESXi 5.5 and after uses UTC by default and it doesn't support changing the time zone

Configure the host to the NTP servers.

Check if the following VMware KB article helps: VMware Knowledge Base

Please consider marking this answer "correct" or "helpful" if you think your question have been answered correctly.

Diego Oliveira
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/dcodiego
Thicot
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

So, this is the reason why all the logs have inconsistent timestamps, I am really disappointed that an hypervisor cannot handle timezones. Most BIOS do not handle timezones, they just handle the date and the time as set.

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VysakhNair
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thicot

You can configure your ESXi host to you organization/external NTP server to get the time from, so that you wl get accurate time in logs as well

Please consider marking this answer "correct" or "helpful" if you think your question have been answered correctly. Vysakh Nair Blog - https://www.vxpert.in
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NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

There is no way to change VMware ESXi timezone, your attached link give us reference instructions to set timezone for VMware ESX not ESXi, It's different.

I explained how to fix time problems with your host on this post:

Undercity of Virtualization: NTP setting revert problem with ESXi 6.7

and to set NTP server for your ESXi hosts:

Undercity of Virtualization: Time differentiate between ESXi host & NTP Server

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NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

Sadly true. When you check ESXi host's configured time by vSphere client and see it's accurate, that moment if you check /var/log contents timestamp for each line of recorded logs, you will see they are not same Smiley Sad

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NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

Yea, that's right. But in my experience, sometimes I have some unexpected issues with Windows-based NTP servers when I configured them as the Host's external NTP Server. For instance newly added NTP settings suddenly after some minutes reverted back! But with other platforms (i.e a router or a Linux server as the NTP server) everything will work fine.

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AlfieA
Contributor
Contributor

It's is very disappointing that a major hypervisor like vsphere does not have the ability to do timezone settings. I am not sure what were they thinking when the decided to not to put that setting or are they "NOT THINKING AT ALL!"?

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NathanosBlightc
Commander
Commander

Take it east bro.

Starter of this topic speaks about the ESXi but mentioned a link about ESX! You should be aware of their differences.

After relase of vSphere 4.1, ESXi hosts are set to UTC by default, So you don't need to push their timezone to be on your local zone! Because the vSphere Client and vSphere Web Client automatically display time in your local Time Zone and will take into account UTC setting on host(s).

You may ask why it's happening architecturally in ESXi servers?!

For a moment imagine many of customers and admins want to login to an ESXi for managing their VMs from diffrent location of the world... Which one of them have this right to set the timezone of that ESXi to theirs current zone?! Can you tell me?!

Please mark my comment as the Correct Answer if this solution resolved your problem