Symptom:

Sometimes when launching a new SoftNAS image (on  AWS only HV instances are affected) the image can be “baked” with the EDT time. This can cause strange issues when utilizing time sensitive operations, such as Snap Replication and SNAP HA.

Purpose:

This article outlines how to save a new SoftNAS instance from time related issues. 

Resolution:

The following steps should be ran on both the Target and the node:

First, SSH into your instance.

For guidance on how to connect to your Linux instance, click here.
For Guidance on how to connect to your Windows Instance, click here.

Once logged in to your instance, use the command to gain root access:

$ sudo -i

Next, check the current date:

$ date

Next we need to remove the local Timezone symlink.

$ rm -f /etc/localtime 

Next we want to set the new timezone. In this example we'll set it to PDT.

In -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime

Check the date/time to confirm timezone change.

$ date

Check that NTP shows that it has a server. The confirmation will be an output stating  NTP socket in use.

$ ntpdate pool.ntp.org

Comf

Next check the hardware clock.

$ hwclock --show

The hardware clock should be offset from the date command. 

$ hwclock

Set the HWclock to system time, and convert to UTC for conformity. 

$ hwclock --systohc --utc

Confirm and compare.

$ hwclock --show

Confirm date is accurate.

$ date

Reboot your instance with the command:

$ reboot

This fix will survive reboots and software updates, and requires no downtime.

-SoftNAS Support Team