Local vs. UTC Time for Linux

The first and most important question you'll have to answer is whether you
want to store the time in your machine in either UTC or local time format. UTC
(Universal Time Coordinated) is the same as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). Local
time is the time that is displayed on a clock hanging on a wall near you. Each
format has its own advantages and disadvantages, but both of them are
discussed in this hint.

Traditionally, all POSIX machines (i.e. Solaris, BSD, UNIX) have their
system time in UTC format. The more stupid OS's (mainly the Microsoft ones)
require their users to configure their machines for local time. Fortunately,
Linux can handle both the normal UTC machines and the machines suffering from
Microsoft diseases that have their system time in local format.

At this point, you'll have to decide what it's gonna be; local or UTC time.
Some guidelines: If you're running Windows and Linux together on 1 box, I
recommend you use local time. If you have Windows but you hardly use it or if
you don't have Windows at all, it's a good idea to store your time in UTC
format. Once you've decided, edit /etc/sysconfig/clock. Use UTC=0 for local
time and UTC=1 for UTC (GMT) time.