The Sysadmin’s Daily Grind: HTPDate
TIME GAMES
Despite the cyclical disruptions so typical of LUG meetings, our intrepid columnist, Charly, reveals how he set the system time in spite of a blocked NTP port.
I am writing this article from the LUG Camp at Wuppertal Germany, and the time is… – er, I have no idea. A kind person from the LUG Flensburg hands me a bottle of Flensburg beer, and I say “Thanks”… Enough has already been said about NTP (Network Time Protocol) based time synchronization, and in fact, I confess to having written about NTP in the past. But today, I will discuss how to time sync without NTP. Up curtain and welcome to HTPDate [1] Of course, NTP is the tool of choice if you need to sync the system clock across a network. But there are times when network synchronization is not possible. For example, if the machine you need to sync is hiding behind a totally hardened firewall maintained by a totally hardened admin who says things like “NTP? Never heard of it, so it must be something bad!”
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.
-
Debian 13.0 Officially Released
After two years of development, the latest iteration of Debian is now available with plenty of under-the-hood improvements.
-
Upcoming Changes for MXLinux
MXLinux 25 has plenty in store to please all types of users.
-
A New Linux AI Assistant in Town
Newelle, a Linux AI assistant, works with different LLMs and includes document parsing and profiles.
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.