tencent cloud

Introduction

The default system time of containers in TKE clusters is Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), which may be different with the local time zone of your nodes. During the use of containers, time zone inconsistency in containers will cause trouble when the system time is used for operations, such as log records and database storage. In this document, we will use "Asia/Shanghai" as the local time zone.

You cannot modify the default time of the cluster but the container. This document provides multiple solutions to time zone inconsistencies in containers. You can choose the solution that works for you.

• Solution 1: create a time zone file in Dockerfile (recommended)
• Solution 2: mount the time zone configuration of the CVM to the container

Operation Environment

All operations described in this document are completed on TKE cluster nodes. The relevant operation environment is shown below. Please use this document to solve problems based on your actual situation.

Cause Locating

1. Log in to the target node by referring to Log in to Linux Instance Using Standard Login Method (Recommended).
2. Run the following command to query the local time:

   date

   The following information appears:
   
3. Run the following commands in sequence to query the default time zone of CentOS in the container:

   docker run -it centos /bin/sh

   date

   The following information appears:
   
   By comparison, it is clear that the local time zone and the time zone in the container are inconsistent.
4. Run the following command to exit the container:

   exit

Directions

Solution 1: create a time zone file in Dockerfile (recommended)

When creating a basic image or customizing an image based on a basic image, you can create a time zone file in Dockerfile to solve time zone inconsistency within a container. After this, you will no longer be troubled by time zone issues when using the image.

1. Run the following command to create the Dockerfile.txt file:

   vim Dockerfile.txt

2. Press i to switch to the editing mode, and write the following information to configure the time zone file.

   FROM centos
   RUN rm -f /etc/localtime \
   && ln -sv /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai /etc/localtime \
   && echo "Asia/Shanghai" > /etc/timezone

3. Press Esc, enter :wq, and save and close the file.
4. Run the following command to create a container image:

   docker build -t centos7-test:v1 -f Dockerfile.txt .

   The following information appears:
   
5. Run the following commands in sequence to launch the container image and query the time zone in the container:

   date

   docker run -it centos7-test:v1 /bin/sh

   date

   The time zone in the container is consistent with the local time. See the figure below:
   
6. Run the following command to exit the container:

   exit

Solution 2: mount the time zone configuration of the CVM to the container

You can also solve time zone inconsistency in a container by mounting the time configuration of the CVM to the container. This solution can be set when the container is started, or you can use the CVM path in the YAML file to mount volumes to the container.

Mounting CVM time configuration to the container when the container is started

When mounting the CVM time configuration to the container to overwrite the original configuration, there are two options:

• Mount local /etc/localtime: you need to ensure that the CVM time zone configuration file exists and the time zone is correct.
• Mount local /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai: when the local /etc/localtime does not exist or the time zone is incorrect, you can directly mount the configuration file.

Choose one of the following methods based on your situation to mount the CVM time configuration to the container:

• Method 1: mount local /etc/localtime;

  1. Run the following commands in sequence to query the local time and mount the local /etc/localtime into the container:

     date

     docker run -it -v /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime centos /bin/sh

     date

     If the following information appears, the time zone in the container is consistent with the local time:
     
  2. Run the following command to exit the container:

     exit

• Method 2: mount local /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai:

  1. Run the following commands in sequence to query the local time and mount local /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai into the container:

     date

     docker run -it -v /usr/share/zoneinfo/Asia/Shanghai:/etc/localtime centos /bin/sh

     date

     If the following information appears, the time zone in the container is consistent with the local time:
     
  2. Run the following command to exit the container:

     exit

Using data volumes in the YAML file to mount the CVM time zone configuration to the container

This section uses mountPath:/etc/localtime as an example to illustrate how to mount the CVM time zone configuration to the container using volumes in the YAML file. This will solve time zone inconsistency in the container.

1. Run the following command on the node to create the pod.yaml file:

   vim pod.yaml

2. Press i to switch to the editing mode and enter the following.

   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Pod
   metadata:
     name: test
     namespace: default
   spec:
     restartPolicy: OnFailure
     containers:
     - name: nginx
       image: nginx-test
       imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
       volumeMounts:
       - name: date-config
         mountPath: /etc/localtime
       command: ["sleep", "60000"]
     volumes:
     - name: date-config
       hostPath:
         path: /etc/localtime

3. Press Esc, enter :wq, and save and close the file.
4. Run the following command to create a pod:

   kubectl create -f  pod.yaml

   The following information appears:
   
5. Run the following commands in sequence to query the time zone in the container:

   date

   kubectl exec -it test date

   If the following information appears, the time zone is consistent with the local system time zone.