Hi All, The DST document detailing the information that we know about how the DST 2007 change affects supported versions of AR System is being made available at:
http://documents.bmc.com/supportu/documents/78/29/67829/67829.pdf It should show up on the support website by end of day on Jan 17, 2007. I have attached a .txt version of the PDF for those without support access or that need the information as soon as possible. -David J. Easter Sr. Product Manager, Service Management Business Unit BMC Software, Inc. -----Original Message----- From: Easter, David Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 7:59 AM To: 'arslist@ARSLIST.ORG' Subject: RE: Daylight savings time and Remedy system restarts > I'm pushing BMC a little harder for [...] a more specific description > of what will and what will not work properly after the DST change on > 03/11 on a pre-DST-fix release As mentioned, such a document is in the works and should be available next week - perhaps as early as Monday the 15th. When the document becomes official, I will post the contents of the technical bulletin here to ARSLIST to ensure that you folks get the information. Thanks, -David J. Easter Sr. Product Manager, Service Management Business Unit BMC Software, Inc. [...previous responses deleted to reduce line count...] _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
Technical Bulletin Daylight Saving Time (DST) and BMC® Remedy® Action Request System® Version 7.0.01 January 2007 BMC Software is alerting users of the BMC Remedy Action Request System (AR System®) product to a problem that can occur if the product runs on computers that use the time zones of the United States and Canada. The problem results from changes to the Daylight Saving Time (DST) dates in the United States and Canada. This technical bulletin describes patches and upgrade paths that prevents the problem from occurring. The bulletin also contains information about the effects of not patching or upgrading systems. NOTE For more information about how this DST issue affects BMC products (including required upgrades and other instructions), see the Customer Support website at http://www.bmc.com/supportu/DST2007. Information on the website is updated as necessary. Check it regularly for the latest information. BMC product support of the DST changes is subject to all required upgrades and instructions, existing license and support agreements, and the disclaimers in the related DST documents, including, among others: . Full DST support of systems and software provided by the customers . Monitoring any new DST information from BMC . Performing the actual clock changes subject to BMC instructions and customer site practices Legislation in the United States and Canada changed the dates for Daylight Saving Time (DST). The following changes take effect in 2007: . DST will begin on the second Sunday in March instead of the first Sunday in April. . DST will end on the first Sunday in November instead of the last Sunday in October. In 2007, DST will start on March 11 instead of April 1 and end on November 4 instead of October 28. On computers that use the time zones of the United States and Canada, processing might be incorrect between March 11 and April 1, 2007, and between October 28 and November 4, 2007. During these periods, AR System might show incorrect time stamps on screens and reports, web service integrations might process the time incorrectly, workflow processed on the mid tier may be one hour off, and export/import of applications may not capture the correct time. These issues are detailed below. Until you correct the problem, similar errors will occur each year. To correct the problem, use the instructions provided in this technical bulletin to apply a product patch or upgrade the product to a new release. Based on the latest information from testing, all versions of AR System will be impacted by the DST change. Patches that contain corrections for this DST event will be provided for AR System 6.03 and AR System 7.0.01. These patches will be made available in the Remedy Heritage Customers Patch Download section of BMC Support Central. The patch numbers and release dates for each version are: AR System Version Patch Number Patch Release Date 6.03 020 January 15, 2007 7.0.01 001 January 22, 2007a a. Customers requiring access to the AR System 7.0.01 Patch 001 prior to January 22, 2007, can contact support to request a restricted release version of the patch. Recommendations based on the version of AR System are as follows: . BMC Remedy AR System 5.1.2Upgrade to AR System 6.03 with Patch 20, or 7.0.01 with Patch 001 . BMC Remedy AR System 6.0.1Upgrade to AR System 6.03 with Patch 20, or 7.0.01 with Patch 001 . BMC Remedy AR System 6.03Apply Patch 020 for AR System 6.03 . BMC Remedy AR System 7.0.00Upgrade to AR System 7.0.01 with Patch 001 . BMC Remedy AR System 7.0.01Apply Patch 001 for AR System 7.0.01 In addition to any patches provided by BMC, the native operating system and third-party application (including application servers, web servers, databases, and Java) patches for DST must also be applied to each system. Please contact the vendor of these products for further information regarding if patches are needed and how to obtain them. Additional information for AR System 6.0.1 customers To further understand the implications of this change in DST, BMC has tested AR System 6.0.1 in an operating environment that has been properly patched for the DST time changes. The following table lists the known issues in 6.0.1. Defect ID - Description SW00256859 - Web services do not recognize the new DST schedule. If any date- related data that occurs between the old DST window and the new DST window (for example, between March 11 and April 1, 2007 and between October 28 and November 4, 2007) is processed through web services, the time will be off by 1 hour. SW00256860 - Exporting an application (including data) does not save new 2007 DST date/time values correctly. If any date-related data that occurs between the old DST window and the new DST window is exported as part of an application, then imported, the time will be off by 1 hour. SW00256085 - Server Time in BMC Remedy Administrator on the Server Information tab shows a one-hour difference between DST 2007 Start and End date. SW00256266 - BMC Remedy User shows a one-hour difference in time for date and time fields if the time zone locale is set through the BMC Remedy User Preference form and if an operating-system-level DST patch is installed on the system. Workaround: Users should use the BMC Remedy User without setting the time zone in the AR System User Preference form. NOTE When a one-hour time discrepancy occurs, this may affect the date as well if the discrepancy occurs near midnight. In addition, as happens during any DST event, when DST begins, the day loses one hour (hour interchange of -1). At this date, a full hour is skipped and does not exist either before or after the transition, so this date includes only 23 hours. Workflow that is designed to fire only during that lost hour may not fire properly. However, since this issue occurs during every DST event, we expect that customers who would be affected by this event have already compensated for this issue. This issue is not related to AR System and thus affects all versions of AR System. While no other defects are expected within AR System 6.0.1, BMC encourages all customers to test this change in DST calculation within a lab environment prior to March 11, 2007, to best understand the effect it will have on a given production environment. Additional information AR System 6.03 and AR System 7.0.01 customers BMC strongly recommends loading the supplied patches prior to March 11, 2007. Failure to load the patches will result in the following issues: . Display of date/time information within a mid-tier web client will be off by one hour if performed between the old DST window and the new DST window (for example, between March 11 and April 1, 2007, or between October 28 and November 4, 2007). . Functions that the mid tier performs for web clients (for example, active links) will be off by one hour if performed between the old DST window and the new DST window. . Custom Java applications that use the utilities that the Java API provides to perform date/time calculations will be off by one hour if performed between the old DST window and the new DST window. The following issues will occur as well. These issues as well as those in the previous list are addressed in AR System 6.03 patch 020 and AR System 7.0.01 Patch 001: Defect-ID Description No ID number-Web services do not recognize the new DST schedule. If any date- related data that occurs between the old DST window and the new DST window is processed through web services, the time will be off by 1 hour. No ID number-Exporting an application (including data) does not save new 2007 DST date/time values correctly. If any date-related data that occurs between theold DST window and the new DST window is exported as part of an application, then imported, the time will be off by 1 hour. No ID number-Server Time in BMC Remedy Administrator on the Server Information tab shows a one-hour difference between the theold DST window and the new DST window. SW00256089 For customers in the U.S.-based time zones (PST, MST, CST, EST), mid- tier (web) results vary for the date/time field between the old DST window and the new DST window in the search results panel and in forms. SW00255371 AR System reports and Crystal reports using the mid tier (web) will display a one- hour difference for the date/time field between the old DST window and the new DST window. NOTE When a one-hour time discrepancy occurs, this may affect the date as well if the discrepancy occurs near midnight. In addition, as happens during any DST event, when DST begins, the day loses 1 hour (hour interchange of -1). At this date, a full hour is skipped and does not exist either before or after the transition, so this date includes only 23 hours. Workflow that is designed to fire only during that lost hour may not fire properly. However, since this issue occurs during every DST event, we expect that customers that would be affected by this event have already compensated for this issue. This issue is not related to AR System and thus affects all versions of AR System. The following defects are known issues in AR System 6.03 and AR System 7.0.01 that are not addressed in the patches, but will be investigated for inclusion in a future patch to AR System 6.03 and/or AR System 7.0.01: Defect ID-Description SW00257017, SW00257018-For customers in the Atlantic (AST) and Newfoundland (NST) time zones, mid tier (web) results vary for the date/time field between the old DST window and the new DST window in the search results panel and in forms. The following defects are known issues, but BMC cannot be address them as they involve a compiler from a major vendor that is not providing a DST fix to BMC or any other customers: Defect ID-Description SW00256258,SW00256530-BMC Remedy User shows a one-hour difference in time for date and time fields if the time zone locale is set through the AR System User Preference form even if an operating-system-level DST patch is installed on the system. Workaround: Users should use BMC Remedy User without setting the Time Zone in the AR System User Preference form. While no other defects are expected within AR System 6.03 or 7.0.01 environments that do not load the supplied DST patches, BMC strongly recommends loading the patches prior to March 11, 2007. BMC encourages all customers to test this change in DST calculation within a lab environment prior to March 11, 2007, to best understand the effect it will have on a given production environment. FAQ Q. I bought Topology Discovery, Service Impact Management, Configuration Management, or IT Service Management applications. Do I also have AR System? A. AR System is provided to any customer who also receives the CMDB. It is also required as part of any ITSM application. If you have installed the CMDB or an ITSM application, you have installed AR System and should upgrade or patch AR System if possible. Q. How is CMDB affected? A. CMDB is an application built on top of AR System and thus is affected by the issues discovered as documented in this technical bulletin. However, since the above issues are seen through the use of user interfaces based on AR System, customers using CMDB only as a data source for solutions such as Topology Discovery, Configuration Management, or Service Impact Management will see no negative impact on their CMDB data. Interfaces, including User Interfaces, which interact with the CMDB may be affected as documented in this technical bulletin. Q. Should a CMDB customer load the AR System patches anyway? A. BMC recommends upgrading to a version of AR System that has patches available and patching AR System to ensure that customers are up to date with all known corrections for the DST event. Q. How are other applications affected, such as EIE, DSO, and so on. A. For more information on other products related to AR System, refer to the Customer Support website at http://www.bmc.com/supportu/DST2007. If the product is listed as not affected, then no specific patches for that product need to be loaded. Interfaces, including user interfaces, that interact with the product might be affected as documented in this technical bulletin. BMC recommends upgrading to a version of AR System that has patches available and patching AR System to ensure that customers are up to date with all known corrections for the DST event. Q. I bought Change Management, Service Desk, Asset Management, Service Level Management, or other traditional Remedy applications. Am I affected? A. Since these applications are built upon AR System, such applications would be affected by the issues as documented in this technical bulletin and thus AR System should be patched as instructed. Q. I will not be able to upgrade my product to a patched version prior to March 11, 2007. What should I do? A. BMC recommends that you review the defects documented in this technical bulletin and test your configuration in your lab environment to best determine how this DST event will affect you. Q. Will AR System 6.0.1, AR System 5.1.2, or previous releases ever be patched? A. At this time, there are no plans to patch versions of AR System prior to 6.03. Q. I have a product or version of a product that is no longer sold by BMC and is not listed in this bulletin or in the General Support, Upgrade Requirements, and Support Summary Table. What should I do? A. BMC has only investigated the effect of this DST event on products that are currently considered active product offerings. BMC recommends that if you have a product not reflected in these documents, that you test your configuration in your lab environment to best determine how this DST event will affect you. Q. Can I load just the DST fixes and no other fixes the patch? A. The DST fixes are included with other fixes in the executables for the product and cannot be installed individually. Q. Is the BMC Remedy User executable affected? Do I have to really re-distribute BMC Remedy User to all my users to correct this DST issue? A. Only the mid tier and server executables contain DST fixes. However, BMC does not recommend applying only a portion of a provided patch. Customers loading the 6.03 Patch 020 or 7.0.01 Patch 001 are strongly encouraged to install the patches in their entirety. Where to get the latest product information To view the latest BMC Software documents, visit the Customer Support page at http://www.bmc.com/support_home. BMC Software distributes printed copies of flashes, technical bulletins, and release notes with most product shipments, as indicated on your shipping list. In addition, all notices are available on the Customer Support page, including any notices that BMC Software issues after you receive your product shipment. You will not receive new notices by mail. However, by subscribing to proactive notification, you can receive email messages that direct you to those notices. For more information about proactive notification, refer to the Customer Support page. Copyright 19912007 BMC Software, Inc., as an unpublished work. All rights reserved. BMC Software, the BMC Software logos, and all other BMC Software product or service names are registered trademarks or trademarks of BMC Software, Inc. BMC Software considers information included in this documentation to be proprietary and confidential. Your use of this information is subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable End User License Agreement for the product and the proprietary and restricted rights notices in the product documentation. BMC SOFTWARE INC 2101 CITYWEST BLVD, HOUSTON TX 77042-2827, USA 713 918 8800 Customer Support: 800 537 1813 (United States and Canada) or contact your local support center
