DST Issues
Beginning
this year, Daylight Savings Time (DST) has changed
in accordance with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. In 2007, DST
began on March 11 and will end on
the first Sunday in November instead of the last Sunday in October.
While it appears to be minor,
we now
learn every day about more systems being affected. At this
point it would be accurate to state that any system
that
uses time stamp for any function should be scrutinized to
understand the affect of DST. You can find more information
on this subject
at the websites below:
What we know to be affected
by the DST change:
- Every computer operating system, including Microsoft,
Novell, Linux and others.
- Every email system, including Exchange, Notes, GroupWise
and others.
- Calendaring features of every email client software,
including all versions of Outlook, Outlook WEB
access, GroupWise, GroupWise
WEB access, Blackberry, Treo, Notes client, Eudora
and others.
- Third party applications.
- Every mobile device that is being used for access
to email systems, including Blackberry, Mobile
Windows, and Treo.
- Every device that is being used as source
for time synchronization on the network,
including routers,
firewall and others.
- Every PC and server based time card applications
used for time tracking and payroll functions.
Effects of the DST will present itself
in incorrect time stamps related to scheduled
appointments,
email stamps,
voice mail stamps, etc. In order to rectify
the problem,
all devices and application described above have to be
updated
with the proper updates and patches. This
is where we
come to
the problem - the extent of
the necessary updates for various components
are not all known at this time. Below
is an outline of what is known to us as it
pertains to environment we work in:
-
Microsoft released updates for all versions
of Windows XP and Windows 2003 server
OS. This patch
is relatively
easy to obtain and install. ABG
customers
that use WSUS service will receive this patch through
our service. However, verification of installation
is required.
-
According to information from Microsoft,
a patch for Windows 2000 OS is available,
but only
to customers
that have an Extended Support
Agreement with
Microsoft. We
developed a relatively simple procedure to address
the DST issue with W2K OS, however the procedure
is manual
and it has to be done
for each computer
individually.
In Novell environments we have successfully tested
applying the W2K DST script through a Novell login
script.
-
At this time as we know it there
are NO patches available for any
Microsoft
OS below
Windows
2000.
-
Novell released a Time Zone
Patch for all OS versions starting
from
v4.0. The
patch is
relatively easy to install.
-
Microsoft released updates
for Exchange 2003 and Outlook
email
client. For customers
that use Outlook to access
an Exchange server,
application
of the update
to the server itself might be sufficient. We
are in the process of testing
this
with ABG Hosted
Exchange service. However,
customers that use Outlook
as a stand
alone email client will have to apply patches
appropriate to their version.
Note: in case of interaction
between patched
and
unpatched email clients, whether
stand alone
or as part of
unified email
system, e.g.
MS Exchange, the end result most probably will
be represented inaccurately.
There is a wide range of examples
of such interactions – unpatched
Blackberry mobile device communicates with
patched Outlook, unpatched
WEB access client
communicates with patched Exchange server, etc.
-
At this time Novell does NOT offer any patches
for any version of GroupWise. We found that
it is not necessary
to update GroupWise
clients
because they
depend on the workstation's operating system
for time zone
information. Updating the
operating system's time zone information
will help ensure that GroupWise appointments are
scheduled correctly.
-
Blackberry released a DST patch for their
software. The patch is relatively easy
to install on phone
instruments however, the
server updates are
more cumbersome and time consuming.
-
You can find more information on
your particular issue by visiting
www.dstpatch.com
-
Cisco released updates for their
IOS. However we suggest refraining
from updating
your routers,
switches, firewalls
just for DST
purposes. In our
opinion, DST
presents a minor issue on this
type of equipment. We will be addressing
all
related issues
on equipment directly
connected to ABG private
network. However
we suggest
you research further in your particular
case.
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