How to make sure docker's time syncs with that of the host?

Question

I have dockers running on Linode servers. At times, I see that the time is not right on the dockers. Currently I have changed the run script in every docker to include the f

Answer 1

You can add your local files (/etc/timezone and /etc/localtime) as volume in your Docker container.

Update your docker-compose.yml with the following lines.

volumes:
    - "/etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro"
    - "/etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro"

Now the container time is the same as on your host.

Answer 2

If you're using docker-machine, the virtual machines can drift. To update the clock on the virtual machine without restarting run:

docker-machine ssh <machine-name|default>
sudo ntpclient -s -h pool.ntp.org

This will update the clock on the virtual machine using NTP and then all the containers launched will have the correct date.

Answer 3

For me, restarting Docker Desktop did not help. Shutting down Win10 and start it again, it did help.

Answer 4

Although this is not a general solution for every host, someone may find it useful. If you know where you are based (UK for me) then look at tianon's answer here.

FROM alpine:3.6
RUN apk add --no-cache tzdata
ENV TZ Europe/London

This is what I added to my Dockerfile ^ and the timezone problem was fixed.

Answer 5

This will reset the time in the docker server:

docker run --rm --privileged alpine hwclock -s

Next time you create a container the clock should be correct.

Source: https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/2076#issuecomment-353749995

Answer 6

docker-compose usage:

Add /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro to the volumes attribute:

version: '3'

services:
  a-service:
      image: service-name
      container_name: container-name
      volumes:
        - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro