Time with incorrect offset

[antipsyk]

Could you please click on this URL for explanation:
http://forum.xav.com/viewtopic.php?t=375

Edvin

[Jim]

The time zones accross all servers were set to about three different zones. This weekend we syncronized them all to GMT time zone and didn't tell anyone.

Sorry for the confusion, we should have announced it ahead of time.

[FredWeb]

As of 20:30 UTC on April 28:

It looks like only server #2 is still showing Eastern Daylight Saving Time. The rest are showing GMT (but with AM/PM).

Also the time on the Forums is still off on the main page and is reporting GMT as one hour later that it really is.

Some sites that discuss GMT and Time Zone issues:

http://greenwichmeantime.com/

http://www.thecoolroom.org/education/gmt.htm

http://www.bldrdoc.gov/timefreq/

Note that GMT is almost always represented using the 24 hour clock, not with AM and PM. If this standard were followed here I believe there would be less confusion, since when someone sees time with four digits and without AM/PM (as in 03:50 or 18:30) they are not so quick to assume it is their local time!

[stratplan]

On this forum (and main page) the time listed is MY local time (in AM/PM) and GMT is -6 (which is correct). Every time seems correct.

I'm not confused...or am I?

[FredWeb]

I think the computer is the one that is most confused!

When I said the Forum "main page" I was referring to the page before you sign in. A few minutes ago it showed:

All times are GMT. The time now is 12:53 AM.

when it should have shown a GMT time of 23:53 (or 11:53 PM). That was what I was referring to regarding the Forum time.

After I log in, it is showing times that (either intentionally or accidentally) equal my local time of Central Daylight Saving Time (CDT). If it is showing your local time correctly and it says that it is GMT -6 then you must be in the Mountain Time Zone, otherwise it is not correct.

On a screen after I log in it shows:

All times are GMT -6 hours. The time now is 06:58 PM.

That time is correct for me here in the Central Time Zone but the offset is incorrect. CDT is GMT -5, not GMT -6. When we go back to Central Standard Time at the end of October (CST) then the offset is GMT -6.

So one or more settings are incorrect somewhere. During Daylight Saving Time the following GMT offsets apply:

EDT = GMT -4
CDT = GMT -5
MDT = GMT - 6
PDT - GMT -7

This is another reason that so many systems just use the 24 hour GMT (actually it is really UTC) clock. The official US national standard time is maintained by the National Institute of Standards and Technology using a cesium fountain clock in Boulder Colorado. That time is represented as UTC using a 24 hour clock. All offsets for time zones and Daylight Saving Time are then computed from that base time.

Sorry for too much detail. For the past 20 years some things I work with require very accurate time (within a second) and as a result I had to learn a lot about international and national time standards and methods to acquire the exact time.

In this case, I was not complaining about the error of less than 30 seconds that exists on my server, but the Forum displayed offset error of one hour. In some cases I guess two setting errors are combining to result in the correct time display, but with the wrong "formula".

[FredWeb]

BTW in my previous post where I mentioned that I saw that all servers were now showing times as GMT on the Server Status page except server 2, which is showing Eastern Daylight Saving Time, I meant the server with "2" in its domain name. I see that that is now considered server 3 in the list.

Five of the servers still show the wrong date and or time on their graphs, though. It is now Tuesday at 00:35 GMT but several graphs indicate that it is currently 19:00 on Wednesday!

I sent Jim a message on these multiple date/time errors this past weekend so I am sure he will get these errors corrected when he has time.

As a side issue, when I create a full backup in cPanel the time stamp is off by one month. A backup today (April) will have the correct day of the month but will indicate March. He submitted that to cPanel in February but so far no fix.