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I have a few VPS servers with Godaddy and with every new server I contracted I had to ask them to set up NTP on the node hosting my container. They always did until now.

It seems like their technicians don't have a clue when it comes to time synchronization and keep talking about changing time zones.

On a VPS you can't set up NTP as it uses the system clock of the main machine running the VPS so of course I don't have access to that. I can choose my time zone but that's it. Since the system clock is going off more and more every day (1.5 seconds/day) I'll be having problems soon. I already called in like 5 times and sent numerous support tickets but no luck so far.

Does anyone have experience with system clocks on Godaddy VPS servers? Can I do something, what do I need to ask them?

Thank you in advance!

Dominique

Dominique
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    **On a VPS you can't set up NTP as it uses the system clock of the main machine running the VPS** sorry, but whoever told you that was talking complete bollocks. They might default to this, and its a reasonable default, but its perfectly possible, and usually quite simple to change on any sane system. – Rob Moir Jan 31 '14 at 11:15
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    Don't use GoDaddy. Simple as. – Tom O'Connor Jan 31 '14 at 11:19
  • @RobM could you explain me how to do it on a OpenVZ VPS? as everything I tried failed – Dominique Jan 31 '14 at 18:34

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On a VPS you can't set up NTP as it uses the system clock of the main machine running the VPS

Do you mean specifically on GD's service? because as a rule that's simply not the case, there's nothing to stop any VM using NTP properly. As I say GD may have that as a rule but if so then that's very odd and would also negate any discussion with them about NTP.

Chopper3
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  • when I try to sync the clock using ntpdate I get this error: step-systime: Operation not permitted... which for all I know is a limitation on a VPS – Dominique Jan 31 '14 at 11:09
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    I need you to understand that this isn't a limitation on VPS's or VMs of any type, just the one you're dealing with now - it is NOT a limitation of VPS's or VMs. – Chopper3 Jan 31 '14 at 11:12
  • The VM could be more of a container like OpenVZ or a Solaris zone where your "virtual server" doesn't include fully virtualized hardware. Then setting the clock from within the container is indeed impossible. – HBruijn Jan 31 '14 at 11:22
  • @HBruijn - as far as I'm aware both OpenVZ and Solaris zones let you set different timezones on a per container basis. – Chopper3 Jan 31 '14 at 11:25
  • In [OpenVZ](http://openvz.org/Man/vzctl.8#Capability_option) that is something that used to have to be explicitely enabled, with `vzctl --capability sys_time:on`. The error message `step-systime: Operation not permitted` is at least consistent with having that option disabled by the virtualization host. – HBruijn Jan 31 '14 at 11:37
  • [This is a limitation in virtuozzo as well](http://download.swsoft.com/virtuozzo/virtuozzo4.0/docs/en/lin/VzLinuxUG/330.htm) – Dennis Kaarsemaker Jan 31 '14 at 11:38
  • @Chopper3 - yes they allow you to set the **time zone** in the container, you can switch to 14:07 CET from 13:07 GMT, but if the actual time is 14:26 CET you can not change that offset. `date` , `ntpdate` and the like are blocked. The clock is the same for all containers on the virtualization host and not another piece of virtualized hardware that can be changed individually by each VM as in VMware, HyperV, KVM etc. So Dominique can only hope to have her support ticket end up with somebody with a clue, or destroy the VM and hope the new one ends up on a host that *is* properly configured. – HBruijn Jan 31 '14 at 12:03
  • @HBruijn - ok, happy to be wrong – Chopper3 Jan 31 '14 at 12:07
  • People are downvoting my question and upvoting answers... but can anyone tell me how to configure NTP on an OpenVZ? When I try to do that I get an error message... so how can the reply by Chopper3 be rewarded with 2 upvotes while I'm still clueless to my problem? – Dominique Jan 31 '14 at 18:33