LISTSERV 16.0 - MSUNAG Archives

FYI, the following information was provided to MSU by Dell. Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

Ron Rivard

Manager, MSU Computer Store

110 Computer Center

E. Lansing, MI 48824

(517) 432-5365

Daylight Savings Time (DST) Changes

The U.S. Energy Policy Act of 2005, passed by the U.S. Congress July, 2005, extended Daylight Saving Time (DST) in the U.S. by approximately four weeks. As a result, beginning in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007, and end one week later on November 4, 2007, resulting in a new DST period that is four weeks longer than previously observed.

Impact to Dell Systems

There is no hardware or BIOS impact to Dell servers, workstations, desktops and notebooks as a result of this DST change. However, the Operating System (OS) will be impacted, and our OS vendors will have solutions in place prior to the transition dates. Contact your OS vendor for the most up-to-date information on implementing updates based on the DST change.

DRAC Hardware

DRAC III and DRAC4 – DRAC III and DRAC 4 get time information from the OS, so if the OS changes time, so does the DRAC.

DRAC 5 - DRAC 5 has an internal clock. The DRAC does not automatically adjust for daylight savings time. The customer must issue a RACADM command to change to daylight savings time in the spring and then issue another command to return to standard time in the fall. This does not change with the date changes that congress enacted. Below are the actual RACADM command lines that would be used in a script to make the changes.

Racadm config –g cfgRacTuning –o cfgRacTuneDaylightOffset 60

Racadm config –g cfgRacTuning –o cfgRacTuneDaylightOffset 0

Note: Since the OMSA agent gets its information from the OS, make sure the OS is updated for DST.

Dell / EMC Arrays

Array time on all Dell / EMC arrays is always set to Greenwich Mean Time (“GMT”) before the array leaves the factory. There is no need to upgrade Flare or Navisphere on any array to conform to the new DST legislation.

For Dell / EMC AX systems running Navi Express the GUI always displays time in GMT and is therefore unaffected by changes in DST.

For Dell / EMC systems running Navisphere Manager the GUI and Classic CLI clients use different methods to convert the array time to local time and can be affected by this change. For the correct local time to be displayed in the CLI output some server software components may need to be upgraded as shown below.

The Navisphere Manager GUI and the Navisphere Java CLI client rely on Java Runtime Environment (“JRE”) to perform the conversion to local time. In order for any version of the Navisphere GUI and the Java CLI client to display the correct local time the JRE on the management station or client host must be at 1.4.2.11 and higher or JRE 1.5.0_06 or higher.

The Secure CLI client uses the Host OS local time zone so there is no minimum version requirement or requirement to upgrade. But the Host OS local time zone must be handled properly.

The Classic CLI client performs the local time conversion internally and must be at or above the following version levels in order to exhibit the correct time: 6.20.1.4.0, 6.19.3.7.0, or 6.16.7.1.0. The Host OS local time must also be accurate as Classic CLI uses this as a reference point. The Navisphere Classic CLI client version 6.22 is compatible and supported with Flare operating system versions 6.16 or higher. The 6.16.7.1.0 Classic CLI client can be used with FC4700’s running Flare Release 13. See the Navisphere Agent CLI Release Notes for support details on other versions.

Failure to upgrade host software to the minimum revisions will result in a one hour error in the local time indicated on logs and CLI output during the periods DST was extended, about four weeks in total.

Dell / EMC Fibre Channel Switches

From an operational perspective, there are no anticipated DST issues with Brocade, and McDATA. However, the best practices for Connectrix from a Service and Support perspective are the following:

Brocade: Update all switches to latest firmware revision

McDATA: When DST is in effect, specifically set the Service Processor to the local time zone

Additional details on all EMC systems are available at

http://productcentral.us.dell.com/C8/C19/SoftwareandSolutions/Documents/EMC_DST.doc

PV Tape

Dell Tape products all get their time from the attached host server (or SAN) via the ISV on the backup software program. No upgrades are required to Dell tape products themselves, although, any errors on the source hardware will propagate into the tape device.

PV Disk

No updates are required for PV Disk products. The MD3000 pulls updates from the host (OS), so as long as the host is correctly adjusted any changes will propagate to the MD3000. The MD1000 and previous PV disk products do not track time on their systems.

MICROSOFT

Microsoft will be producing an update for Microsoft products affected by the new United States Daylight Saving Time transition dates. These updates will be released through a combination of channels including Microsoft Customer Support Services (CSS), hotfixes incorporated in Knowledge Base articles, Windows Update, Microsoft Update, Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), and the Microsoft Download Center. Microsoft is providing the Time Zone updates at no-cost for customers on Windows platforms that are covered by Mainstream Support. Microsoft is providing DST patches for products in Extended Support for the price of $4,000.

Microsoft Daylight Savings Time Support Center

Microsoft Products affected by DST

WINDOWS OS

Important: Effective February 5, 2007 all Dell PowerEdge Servers purchased with an OEM factory install of the following Microsoft Operating Systems will ship with the Microsoft DST hot fix applied to the operating system: Windows® Server 2003, Web Edition, Windows Server™ 2003 R2, Standard Edition (32 & 64 bit versions) Windows Server™ 2003 R2, 32-bit Enterprise Edition (32 & 64 bit versions), Windows® Small Business Server 2003 R2 Standard & Premium Editions and Windows Storage Server.

Note: Two additional patches are required for SBS 2003 R2 Standard and Premium, (i.e.) SharePoint Services and Exchange 2003. Please refer to KB 926666 (see Exchange KB below) and KB 924881 (see SharePoint KB below). These will be added to the FI image on 4/10.

KB 931836: February 2007 Cumulative Update for Windows Operating Systems

KB 914387: How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007

Important: Before you apply the update that is referenced in KB 93186 above, you should be aware of potential issues that may affect Microsoft Office Outlook. For more information about these issues, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

KB 931667: Addressing the daylight saving time changes in 2007 using the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

EXCHANGE

KB 926666: Update for daylight saving time changes in 2007 for Exchange 2003

SQL
KB 931975 : Preparing SQL Server for 2007 DST (Daylight Savings Time) changes

KB 931815: 2007 time zone update for SQL Server 2005 Notification Services and for SQL Server 2000 Notification Services

SHAREPOINT SERVICES AND BIZTALK SERVER

        KB 924881: Update for Windows SharePoint Services
        KB 931961: Update for Biztalk Server 2006
        KB 931960: Update for Biztalk Server 2004

MOBILE

KB 923953: How to configure daylight saving time for the United States and Canada in 2007 and in subsequent years on Windows Mobile-based devices

LINUX

Important: Linux operating systems all released an updated time zone data file just after the act was passed, and it is part of the Linux kernel.

REDHAT

Important: Effective February 5, 2007 all Dell PowerEdge Servers purchased with RHEL3 and RHEL4 factory installed have the DST patch already incorporated.

For other installs:

· Red Hat Enterprise Linux 2.1 users must update glibc

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 and 4 must update the tzdata package.

For the most current information on the DST update visit:

http://kbase.redhat.com/faq/FAQ_80_7909.shtm
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHEA-2006-0622.html%5Ct_blank

        SUSE Novell
        Novell development has already released service packs or maintenance updates for the following
        products
        - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 8 SP4
        - SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 SP3 and Novell Linux Desktop 9 SP3
        - SUSE Linux Enterprise 10 (Desktop and Server)
       http://www.novell.com/info/daylight_saving.html

Service packs and maintenance updates can be retrieved from Novell Customer Center or through the usual update mechanisms. For the most current information on the DST update visit,

https://secure-support.novell.com/KanisaPlatform/Publishing/607/3853518_f.SAL_Public.html

VMWare

        Important: Effective October 19^th 2006, Dell has been shipping VMware ESX (both standard and enterprise
        editions) with the DST patch already incorporated. This patch has been included in the most recent
        release of VMware—3.0.1—and is also available for download on VMware’s website at:
        http://kb.vmware.com/vmtnkb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=8695824&sliceId=SAL_Public&dialogID=10171220&stateId=0%200%2010163843&doctag=Author,%20KB%20Article

ORACLE

http://productcentral.us.dell.com/C8/C19/SoftwareandSolutions/Documents/Oracle_DST.doc

Systems Management Partners

ALTIRIS

http://kb.altiris.com/article.asp?article=32402&p=3 links to an article in the Altiris Knowledgebase that
outlines how DST will affect their products.

BMC

http://www.bmc.com/supportu/DST2007 links to general information on DST as well as detailed
information for each product.

COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

        http://supportconnectw.ca.com/public/ca_common_docs/dst_pubstatement.asp provides CA’s statement
        on DST.
        http://supportconnectw.ca.com/public/ca_common_docs/dst_prodmatrix.pdf links to a product matrix
        with current information regarding unaffected CA products http://www3.ca.com/udm/upm/ links to
        existing Unicenter patches.

NOVELL

        https://secure-support.novell.com/KanisaPlatform/Publishing/152/3642878_f.SAL_Public.html provides
        details on how Novell ZENworks products accommodate the 2007 time zone change. Additional
        information available at http://www.novell.com/info/daylight_saving.html

LANDesk

http://kb.landesk.com/article.asp?article=3978&p=5 links to a bulletin from LANDesk regarding the testing and results

in relation to DST and their products.