Mastering KVM Virtualization

KVM guest time-keeping best practices

There are different mechanisms for time keeping. One of the best known techniques is Network Time Protocol (NTP) .This is a networking protocol for clock synchronization between computer systems over packet-switched, variable-latency data networks. One thing that needs to be considered in a virtualization environment is the maxim that the guest time should be in sync with the hypervisor/host, because it affects lots of guest operations and can cause unpredictable results if they are not in sync.

There are different ways to achieve time sync, however; it depends on the setup you have. I have seen people using NTP, setting the system clock from the hardware clock using hwclock –s and so on. The first thing that ...