Context
You just rented a Linux VPS at Winheberg and want to check or change its timezone? At Winheberg, every VPS ships preconfigured on the Europe/Paris timezone to save you this step. But if you live in another part of the world, or want to use a different timezone (for example UTC for international infrastructure), this guide shows you how.
Setting the right timezone is essential for readable logs, scheduled tasks (cron) that run at the right time, and correct dates across all your applications.
This guide covers every distribution we offer, namely Debian 11/12/13, Ubuntu 23.10/24.04/25.04, AlmaLinux 9/10, Rocky Linux 9/10, Fedora 41/42, and Alpine Linux 3.22.
Why set the right timezone?
When your VPS is misconfigured, several issues can show up day to day. System logs show a shifted time, which complicates debugging. Cron jobs don't run at the intended time. Emails sent from the server carry an incorrect timestamp. And web applications show the wrong time to your users.
In short, it's a quick step worth doing as soon as you set up your VPS.
Prerequisites
- An active Linux VPS at Winheberg
- Root SSH access to your server
Set the timezone based on your distribution
These distributions all use systemd, and therefore the timedatectl command, which makes managing the timezone very simple.
1. Check the current timezone
Connect to your VPS via SSH, then run the following command.
timedatectl
You'll get a result similar to this.
Local time: Mon 2026-05-18 16:32:10 CEST
Universal time: Mon 2026-05-18 14:32:10 UTC
RTC time: Mon 2026-05-18 14:32:10
Time zone: Europe/Paris (CEST, +0200)
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
RTC in local TZ: no
The Time zone line shows the current timezone. Here, the server is correctly set to Europe/Paris, which corresponds to CEST in summer (+0200) or CET in winter (+0100). This is our VPS's default configuration.
If you see a different timezone (for example Etc/UTC), move to the next step to change it.
2. List available timezones
Linux has a complete database of world timezones. To list them, use the following command.
timedatectl list-timezones
The list is long. To filter by region, add a grep. For example, to show only European timezones.
timedatectl list-timezones | grep Europe
You'll see Europe/Paris, Europe/London, Europe/Berlin, etc. show up.
For metropolitan France, the right timezone is always Europe/Paris. It automatically handles the switch between daylight saving and standard time, with no action needed on your part.
3. Change the timezone
Once you've identified the timezone that fits your needs, apply it with the timedatectl set-timezone command.
For France, for example.
timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Paris
No confirmation message, that's normal. The command is silent when everything goes well.
For other regions, here are a few common examples.
# UTC (useful for international infrastructure)
timedatectl set-timezone Etc/UTC
# Belgium / Netherlands
timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Brussels
# Switzerland
timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Zurich
# Canada (Montreal)
timedatectl set-timezone America/Montreal
# United States (New York)
timedatectl set-timezone America/New_York
4. Check that the change was applied
Rerun the timedatectl command to confirm.
timedatectl
The Time zone line should now show the new timezone, and the local time should match reality.
You can also simply type date to see the current time.
date
5. Check NTP synchronization
Having the right timezone is good. But your server's actual time also needs to be accurate. That's the role of the NTP (Network Time Protocol) protocol, which automatically syncs your VPS's clock with reference time servers.
Check that NTP synchronization is active.
timedatectl
You should see these two lines.
System clock synchronized: yes
NTP service: active
If that's not the case, enable it with this command.
timedatectl set-ntp true
Without NTP synchronization, your VPS's clock can drift by several seconds a day, which can cause issues for SSL certificates, databases, or scheduled tasks.
Alpine doesn't use systemd, so the timedatectl command doesn't exist. The process is different, but still simple.
1. Install the timezone data
By default, Alpine doesn't include the full timezone database to stay lightweight. You first need to install the tzdata package.
apk add tzdata
2. Check the current timezone
To see the time and timezone used on your server, run the following command.
date
You'll get something like this.
Mon May 18 16:32:10 CEST 2026
3. List available timezones
All timezones are stored in /usr/share/zoneinfo/. To browse the European ones, for example.
ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/
4. Change the timezone
To apply a timezone, you create a symbolic link to the matching zone file at /etc/localtime.
For France, for example.
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Paris /etc/localtime
For other common regions.
# UTC
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC /etc/localtime
# Belgium
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Brussels /etc/localtime
# Canada (Montreal)
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Montreal /etc/localtime
You can also save the timezone persistently in /etc/timezone.
echo "Europe/Paris" > /etc/timezone
5. Check the change
date
The time should now match the chosen timezone.
6. NTP synchronization on Alpine
On Alpine, the NTP service is called chronyd or openntpd. To install and enable chrony (the simplest option), run these commands.
apk add chrony
rc-update add chronyd
rc-service chronyd start
Your Alpine VPS is now synced to the real time 🎯
If you run into trouble
Here are the most common errors you might run into.
❌ timedatectl, command not found on Alpine
That's normal, Alpine doesn't use systemd. Use the Alpine tab above with symbolic links instead.
❌ The timezone changes but the time stays wrong
Check that the NTP service is actually active. On Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Rocky, and AlmaLinux, the timedatectl set-ntp true option is enough. On Alpine, install and start chrony.
❌ Failed to set time zone, Access denied
You don't have administrator rights. Prefix the command with sudo.
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Paris
❌ On Alpine, ls /usr/share/zoneinfo/ returns few files
You haven't installed tzdata. Run apk add tzdata then try again.
Need help?
If you run into an issue setting up your VPS's timezone, our team is here. Open a ticket in the Technical department from your client area and fill in the Related Product field with the VPS in question.
Your VPS is now on the right time 🕐, ready for your logs, your crons, and your applications.
