When working with CentOS 6.2 servers, you might encounter situations where the system timezone needs adjustment. The standard approach of symlinking /etc/localtime to the appropriate zone file doesn't always work as expected in this version.

First, check your current timezone configuration:

# date
Wed Apr 18 15:43:28 GST 2012

# ls -l /etc/localtime
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 33 Apr 18 15:00 /etc/localtime -> /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Dubai

For CentOS 6.2, you need to modify an additional configuration file:

# Update the symlink
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Dubai /etc/localtime

# Edit the sysconfig clock file
echo 'ZONE="Asia/Dubai"' > /etc/sysconfig/clock

# Optional: Verify the change with zdump
zdump -v Asia/Dubai | head -n 1

# Restart system services that use timezone
service crond restart
service rsyslog restart

For interactive timezone selection:

# Run the timezone selector
tzselect

# Follow the prompts to select Asia/Dubai
# Then apply the selection
cp /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Dubai /etc/localtime

After making changes, verify with these commands:

# Check current timezone
date

# Check timezone files
ls -l /etc/localtime
cat /etc/sysconfig/clock

# Check timezone database
timedatectl status  # (Note: not available in CentOS 6)

To ensure the timezone persists across reboots and affects all users:

# Add to /etc/profile
echo 'export TZ=Asia/Dubai' >> /etc/profile

# Or for individual users:
echo 'export TZ=Asia/Dubai' >> ~/.bashrc

If timezone changes don't take effect:

# Check for running services that might cache timezone
ps aux | grep -E 'crond|rsyslog|ntpd'

# Verify the symlink points to the correct file
readlink -f /etc/localtime

# Check for conflicting environment variables
env | grep TZ

Remember that some applications may need to be restarted to pick up the new timezone. For systems running NTP, ensure your time synchronization is working properly:

# Check NTP status
service ntpd status

# Force immediate time sync
ntpdate pool.ntp.org

When working with CentOS 6.2 servers, you might encounter situations where the system timezone needs modification. The standard approach of symlinking /etc/localtime doesn't always work as expected in this particular version.

First, check your current timezone settings:

# Check current timezone
date
# Output: Wed Apr 18 15:43:28 GST 2012

# View timezone file link
ls -l /etc/localtime

For CentOS 6.2, you need to modify additional configuration files:

# Step 1: Create the symlink (as you've tried)
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Dubai /etc/localtime

# Step 2: Edit the sysconfig clock file
echo 'ZONE="Asia/Dubai"' > /etc/sysconfig/clock

# Step 3: Force time update
hwclock --systohc

For interactive selection, use the built-in tool:

# Run interactive timezone selector
tzselect

# Follow the prompts to select Asia → Dubai
# Then apply the selection:
TZ='Asia/Dubai'; export TZ

After making changes, verify with these commands:

# Check system time
date

# Check timezone configuration
cat /etc/sysconfig/clock

# For thorough verification
timedatectl status

If timezone changes don't persist after reboot:

# Check for cron jobs or services resetting timezone
grep -r "timezone" /etc/cron* /etc/init.d/

# Ensure NTP isn't interfering
service ntpd stop
chkconfig ntpd off

For scripting purposes, here's a complete one-liner:

# Single command to set Dubai timezone
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Dubai /etc/localtime && \
echo 'ZONE="Asia/Dubai"' > /etc/sysconfig/clock && \
hwclock --systohc