System Time Management

With the System Time Management page, you can:

• Display the current time.
• Manually set the system time.
• Configure summer/daylight saving time.
• Configure the Network Time Protocol (NTP).

You can manually configure the time and summer/daylight saving time on the switch, or you can configure NTP so that the switch can receive time updates from an NTP server or over the network from an NTP broadcast server.

Displaying the Current Time

The System Time Management page automatically displays the current time in hours (military format), minutes, seconds, milliseconds, time zone, week day name, month, day (by date), and year.

Manually Setting the System Time

Generally, if the system is synchronized by a valid outside timing mechanism such as NTP, you do not need to set the system clock. In this situation, click Configure NTP to access the Network Time Protocol page. Click Help on that page for configuration information.

If no other time source is available, you should manually set the time. The time specified is relative to the configured time zone.

To manually set the system time:

1. In the Month, Day, and Year fields, select the appropriate setting from the drop-down lists.
2. In the Hour field, enter the hour (based on a 24-hour clock).
   For example, for 9 a.m., enter 09. For 1 p.m., enter 13. For midnight, enter 24.
3. In the Minute and Second fields, enter the correct minutes and seconds.
4. In the Name of the Time Zone field, enter the name of the zone to be displayed when standard time is in effect.
   For example, enter PST for Pacific Standard Time.
5. In the Hours Offset from UTC field, enter the offset in hours of the time zone from Universal Time Coordinated (UTC).
   UTC is the same as Greenwich Mean time. The offset can be a negative or positive number. For example, Pacific Standard Time has an offset of -8 hours, meaning it is 8 hours behind UTC.
6. In the Minutes Offset from UTC, enter the offset in minutes of the time zone from UTC.
   Note: If hours are negative, minutes are assumed to be negative.
7. Click Apply.
8. Configure summer/daylight saving time if it is applicable to your area.

Configuring Summer/Daylight Saving Time

The Summer/Daylight Saving Time section configures summertime/daylight saving time for three situations:

• Does not apply to your area
• Starts and ends on a particular day of the week each year (recurring pattern)
• Starts and ends on an exact date and time

By default, summertime/daylight is set to Not Applicable.  If you changed the default setting and later decide to restore it, use this procedure:

1. From the drop-down list, select Not Applicable.
2. Click Configure Summer/Daylight Saving Time.

If your summertime/daylight saving time occurs on a particular day of the week each year in a recurring pattern:

1. From the drop-down list, select Start and End on a Particular Day/Time Every Year.
2. Click Configure Summer/Daylight Saving Time.
   In the pop-up window that appears, click Help to complete the configuration.

If your summertime/daylight saving time starts and ends on an exact date and time:

1. From the drop-down list, select Start and End Date of the Next Summertime Event.
2. Click Configure Summer/Daylight Saving Time.
   In the pop-up window that appears, click Help to complete the configuration.

Configuring NTP

If you want your switch to receive time updates from a server, click Configure NTP to access the Network Time Protocol page. On that page, click Help for configuration information.