Siemens NTP sync PLC VS. HMI

Hey guys, am I over looking something here?

I have my Siemens PLC's (300's) synced with a NTP server. The PLC gets the UTC time from the server. I can then use Siemens block to conver the UTC time to Local time. This local time can be pushed to the HMI but not stored as the system time.


So after syncing:
PLC (diagnostic buffer) = UTC time
HMI (alarm logs) = Local time

Even though it is only 4 to 5 hours different it is a hassle to figure out the corresponding times.

My next step is to setup a linux NTPD server and have it provide the local time instead of the UTC. This way the PLC and HMI times will be in sync.

Any other ideas?

P.S. When I looked on the Siemens forums they showed examples that when you specify your NTP server you could pick your offset e.g. GMT +5, but that isn't an option in my software.

PC as NTP time server.

I'm in the process of doing this with an S7 315-2AG10 and a CP343-1 lean. I have not completed this yet as i have to replace the existing CP. Point your CP to the ip address of your pc.

This is the setup i'm trying to follow.

NTP Link

Regards,
Barry.

We saw that link also but our IT guys didn't like the idea of using windows for some reason instead of syncing with the ntp server. We are currently looking into using logic to see when the plc system time has been updated then applying the local time offset then.