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Cookbook

Checking the system date and time

Checking the system date and time

The system date and time are important for FortiGuard services, logging events, and sending alerts. The wrong time makes the log entries confusing and difficult to use.

When possible, use Network Time Protocol (NTP) to set the date and time. This is an automatic method that does not require manual intervention. However, you must ensure that the port is allowed through the firewalls on your network. FortiToken synchronization requires NTP in many situations.

For information about setting the system date and time, see Setting the system time.

To view and configure the date and time in the GUI:
  1. Go to Dashboard > Status. The date and time are displayed in the System Information widget, next to System Time.
  2. Go to System > Settings.
  3. In the System Time section, select NTP, and then configure the Time Zone, and Set Time settings as required.
To view the date and time in the CLI:

execute date

execute time

To configure the date and time in the CLI:

Use the set timezone ? command to display a list of timezones and the integers that represent them.

config system global

set timezone <integer>

end

config system ntp

set type custom

config ntpserver

edit 1

set server “ntp1.fortinet.net”

next

edit 2

set server “ntp2.fortinet.net”

next

end

set ntpsync enable

set syncinterval 60

end

Checking the system date and time

Checking the system date and time

The system date and time are important for FortiGuard services, logging events, and sending alerts. The wrong time makes the log entries confusing and difficult to use.

When possible, use Network Time Protocol (NTP) to set the date and time. This is an automatic method that does not require manual intervention. However, you must ensure that the port is allowed through the firewalls on your network. FortiToken synchronization requires NTP in many situations.

For information about setting the system date and time, see Setting the system time.

To view and configure the date and time in the GUI:
  1. Go to Dashboard > Status. The date and time are displayed in the System Information widget, next to System Time.
  2. Go to System > Settings.
  3. In the System Time section, select NTP, and then configure the Time Zone, and Set Time settings as required.
To view the date and time in the CLI:

execute date

execute time

To configure the date and time in the CLI:

Use the set timezone ? command to display a list of timezones and the integers that represent them.

config system global

set timezone <integer>

end

config system ntp

set type custom

config ntpserver

edit 1

set server “ntp1.fortinet.net”

next

edit 2

set server “ntp2.fortinet.net”

next

end

set ntpsync enable

set syncinterval 60

end