Dropping this as a quick reminder to myself. When confronted with a new Ubuntu server instance, I can check the currently set time zone by simply asking for the current time with
date
Now if I need to change the currently set time zone to something else, the easiest would be to just run
sudo dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
This should bring up an easy to use graphical interface that will allow you to select the correct geographical region/city time zone that you wish to have your server reflect.
Note: Because your cron jobs all depends on this information, it is a VERY good idea to restart the cron service after making your timezone change:
sudo service cron restart
Also worth pointing out, if you are not particularly sure on which city time zone to choose, you could always select the geographic area “Etc” and then choose from the more generic options like GMT or GMT+2.
(UPDATE: Oh. Turns out that that I’ve left this note for myself before. I may need to rethink my note system.)
Related Link: Ubuntu Server