Time

For effective scheduling and logging, the system date and time must be accurate. You can either manually set the system date and time or configure the system to automatically keep its time correct by synchronizing with a Network Time Protocol (NTP) server.

NOTE: Some FortiSwitch models do not have a battery-backup real-time clock. For FortiSwitch models without a real-time clock, the time is reset when the switch is rebooted. These models must be connected to an NTP server if you want to maintain the correct system date and time.

The Network Time Protocol enables you to keep the system time synchronized with other network systems. This will also ensure that logs and other time-sensitive settings are correct.

When the system time is synchronized, polling occurs every 2 minutes. When the system time is not synchronized but the NTP server can be reached, polling is attempted every 2 seconds to synchronize quickly. If the NTP server cannot be reached, polling occurs up to every 64 seconds. If DNS cannot resolve the host name, polling occurs up to every 60 seconds.

Starting in FortiSwitchOS 6.4.0, the default Sync Interval is 10 minutes. The polling interval is one-fifth of the configured Sync Interval.

Using the GUI:

1. Go to System > Dashboard.
2. Next to the System Time field, select Change.
   
   
   
3. Select your Time Zone.
4. Either select Manual Setting and enter the system date and time or select Synchronize with NTP Server. If you select synchronization, you can either use the default FortiGuard server or specify a different server. You can also set the Sync Interval.
5. Select Update.
   

Using the CLI:

If you use an NTP server, you can identify the IPv4 or IPv6 address for this self-originating traffic with the set source-ip or set source-ip6 command. For example, you can set the source IPv4 address of NTP to be on the DMZ1 port with an IP of 192.168.4.5:

config system ntp

set authentication enable

set ntpsyn enable

set syncinterval 5

set source-ip 192.168.4.5

end