Error: date: cannot set date: Operation not permitted (OpenVZ)

After installation of an OpenVZ container (VE/Virtual Environment) not able to set the date, and the time-zone was incorrect. Attempts to set the date resulted in the following error.

# date 031612482009

date: cannot set date: Operation not permitted

To correct this problem, exit from the container (#exit) and issue the following commands.

# vzctl stop <veid>

# vzctl set <veid> –save –capability sys_time:on

# vzctl start <veid>

Where <veid> is your Virtual Environment ID.

Next, log back into your virtual environment and issue the following commands to set the appropriate time-zone for the Virtual Environment (VE).

# vzctl enter <veid>

# mv /etc/localtime /etc/localtime.old

# ln -s /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles /etc/localtime

Now you can set the date and time appropriately.