ESXi and vCenter Timezone difference does not affect time sync

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

• ESXi host and vCenter Server display different times in the vSphere Client.

• Log entries from ESXi and vCenter appear to have time offsets.

• Administrators suspect a time drift or clock synchronization problem.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 7.x
VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Resolution

By design:

• ESXi hosts always operate in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
• vCenter Server uses the local timezone configured in its operating system.

This difference affects only how time is displayed, not how time is synchronized.
Both ESXi and vCenter rely on Network Time Protocol (NTP) or other synchronization methods to maintain accurate system clocks.