Getting Started with the PIX Security Appliance
Time setting and NTP support

The clock Command
The clock command sets the PIX Security Appliance clock. It enables the time, month, day, and year to be specified. A battery on the motherboard allows the clock setting to be retained in memory when the power is off. The PIX generates Syslog messages for system events and can log these messages to a Syslog server. The logging timestamp command can be used to add a time stamp value to these messages. The logging timestamp command requires that the clock set command be used to ensure that the correct time appears on the Syslog messages.

You can view the time with the show clock command, which displays the time, time zone, day, and full date. You can remove the clock set command with the clear configure clock command.

The syntax for the clock command is shown in Figure .

Setting Daylight Savings Time and Time Zones
Although the PIX Security Appliance clock does not adjust itself for daylight savings time changes, it can be configured to display daylight savings time by using the clock summer-time command. The summer-time keyword causes the PIX Security Appliance to automatically switch to summer time for display purposes only. The recurring keyword indicates that summer time should start and end on the days specified by the values that follow it. If no values are specified, the summer time rules default to United States rules.

Use the clock timezone command to set the time zone . The clock timezone command sets the time zone for display purposes only. Internally, the time is kept in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). The no form of the command is used to set the time zone to UTC. The clear clock command removes summer time settings and sets the time zone to UTC.

NTP
The ntp server command synchronizes the PIX Security Appliance with a specified network timeserver . The PIX can be configured to require authentication before synchronizing with the NTP server. To enable and support authentication, there are several forms of the ntp command that work with the ntp server command. Additional information about the ntp command forms and their uses is available in the Command Reference.

The show run ntp command can be used to display the current NTP configuration. The show ntp status command can be used to display the NTP clock information. The clear configure ntp command removes the NTP configuration, including disabling authentication and removing all authentication keys and NTP server designations.

The syntax for the ntp command is shown in Figure .


Interactive Media Activity

Demonstration Activity: Configuring and verifying NTP

In this activity, students will learn the steps to configure and verify NTP.