# HP OpenView Service Desk

## version 4.5

## Flexible Time Zones

January 2007

© Copyright 2007 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

## Content:

1. Last-minute information
2. Introduction
3. Manage Time Zones
3.1 Time Zones Definition
3.2 Notes
3.3 Use Time Zones
4. Limitations
5. Localization
6. Web-API
7. Technical information
8. Appendix

## LAST-MINUTE INFORMATION

There is no last-minute information.

## INTRODUCTION

Since Service Desk Service Pack 22, Service Desk allows user to set time zones dynamically. The "Flexible Time Zones" feature comes for solving issues raised in those countries such as U.S., Brazil and Australia etc. where DST period may be changed frequently. With this feature, time zones could be added, modified or removed. And server time zone can also be customized. This document describes how to redefine time zones, what you need to take into account when you redefine time zones and how to use these time zones.
The main audience for this document is Service Desk administrators authorized to configure Regional Settings.

## Managing Time Zones

### Time Zones Definition

#### View of Time Zones

Open the Administrator Console, and navigate to hp OpenView service desk > System Panel > Regional Settings > Time Zones tab, all Time Zones will be shown in a table view in the bottom data pane.
Since Service Desk Service Pack 22, two buttons "Add" and "Remove", an option "Customize Server Time Zone" and a dropdown list below the option are added (See Figure 1).

Four new functionalities are provided:

- Add a new time zone (See Add a New Time Zone)
- Modify an existing time zone (See Modify an Existing Time Zone)
- Remove an existing time zone (See Remove an Existing Time Zone)
- Set server time zone (See Set Server Time Zone)

Figure 1 - Time Zones View

#### Add a New Time Zone

Open the Administrator Console, and navigate to System Panel > Regional Settings > Time Zones tab (See Figure 1), click the Add button and the New Time Zone data form is opened (See Figure 2). And all the fields in the form are described in Table 1.

Figure 2 - New Time Zone data form

| Field Name | Description
1 | Name | The localized time zone name
2 | Search code | Search code of the name label; it must be unique. And it is not allowed to be empty or contain space(s), wildcard characters (*, ?, _, %) or start with a digit (0-9). DO NOT use non-Latin text as a part of the Search code value
3 | Offset | Standard hours offset without DST from GMT+0 (=UTC time zone, UTC is GMT+0, but without the DST component as it is observed in Greenwich) of the this Time Zone; its scope is between -14.0 and 14.0
4 | Add to display list | Whether this Time Zone will be shown in Client; Checked indicates this Time Zone will be shown in SD Client > Toolbar > Time Zone list, or otherwise
5 | DST Usable | Whether this Time Zone has DST; Checked indicates this Time Zone has daylight saving time, all the below fields are enable and required, or otherwise
6 | DST Start Month | The daylight saving time starting month; its value is in [January, February, ..., December]
7 | DST Start Week of Month | The daylight saving time starting week-of-month; its value is in [1, 2, 3, 4]
8 | DST Start Week of Month Reverse | Whether the DST Start Week of Month is counted back from the end of the DST Start Month; Checked indicates the DST Start Week of Month is counted back from the end of the DST Start Month, or otherwise
9 | DST Start Day of Week | The daylight saving time starting day-of-week; its value is in [Sunday, Monday, ..., Saturday]
10 | DST Start Hour | The daylight saving time starting hour-within-day in local wall clock time; its value is in [0, 1, ..., 23]
11 | DST Start Minute | The daylight saving time starting minute-within-hour in local wall clock time; its value is in [0, 1, ..., 59]
12 | DST End Month | The daylight saving time ending month; its value is in [January, February, ..., December]
13 | DST End Week of Month | The daylight saving time ending week-of-month; its value is in [1, 2, 3, 4]
14 | DST End Week of Month Reverse | Whether the DST End Week of Month is counted back from the end of the DST End Month; Checked indicates the DST End Week of Month is counted back from the end of the DST End Month, or otherwise
15 | DST End Day of Week | The daylight saving time ending day-of-week; its value is in [Sunday, Monday, ..., Saturday]
16 | DST End Hour | The daylight saving time ending hour-within-day in local wall clock time; its value is in [0, 1, ..., 23]
17 | DST End Minute | The daylight saving time ending minute-within-hour in local wall clock time; its value is in [0, 1, ..., 59]

Table 1 - Field Descriptions

Question: Suppose a case, a time zone is to be created with the DST start/end date defined on the 5th week day (Sunday, Monday, etc.) which is counted orderly from begin of a month, but the value of the DST Start/End Week of Month field is in [1, 2, 3, 4], thus 5 can not be specified. Then, what can be done to deal with this case?
Answer: As generally known, the max. number of week day in a month is <= 5, and in this case, actually "the 5th week day counted orderly from begin of the month" means "the last week day of the month". That is to say, above case is also can be transferred to that "a time zone is to be created with the DST start/end date defined on the 1st week day which is counted back from end of a month". In summary, what can be done is that DST Start/End Week of Month is set to 1 and DST Start/End Week of Month Reverse is set to true.
For example, below snapshot shows that total amount of Sunday or Monday in April is 5. If the 5th Sunday in April is wanted to be specified to define DST start/end date and it is counted orderly from begin of April, then the 1st Sunday counted back from the end of April could be substituted.

#### Modify an Existing Time Zone

Open the Administrator Console, and navigate to System Panel > Regional Settings > Time Zones tab (See Figure 1); after select an existing time zone in check-box-list, click the Modify button and the Modify Time Zone data form is opened. If the time zone is pre-defined in Service Desk, the Search code and Offset fields are always shown as read-only (See Figure 3). Otherwise, all the fields are editable (See Figure 4).

Figure 3 - Modify pre-defined Time Zone data form

Figure 4 - Modify customized Time Zone data form

#### Remove an Existing Time Zone

To remove a Time Zone, open the Administrator Console, and navigate to System Panel > Regional Settings > Time Zones tab (see Figure 1); after select a Time Zone in check-box-list, click the Remove button and then the time zone is deleted.

A time zone can not be removable if
- It is pre-defined in Service Desk. (See Figure 5 for error message)
- It is referred by other item(s) such as Application Account etc. (See Figure 6 for warning message)
- It is set as Primary Time Zone or Server Time Zone. (See Figure 7 for error message)

Figure 5 - To delete a pre-defined time zone is not allowed

Figure 6 - To delete a referred time zone is not allowed

Figure 7 - To delete a primary or server time zone is not allowed

#### Set Server Time Zone

An option "Customize Server Time Zone" is added to set customized server time zone. Open the Administrator Console, and navigate to System Panel > Regional Settings > Time Zones tab (see Figure 1), initially the option "Customize Server Time Zone" is shown as Unchecked and below dropdown list is disabled, which indicates that server time zone is set to local OS time zone in server side.
To set customized server time zone, first check the option "Customize Server Time Zone", then select a Time Zone in below dropdown list and click Apply or OK button (See Figure 8).

Figure 8 - Set a Customized Server Time Zone

### Notes

1. Click Cancel button in Time Zones tab can not roll back operation of Add, Modify or Remove.
2. After adding, modifying, removing time zone or setting server time zone, both Service Desk server and client should be restarted, and cache in client also should be cleared.
3. Suppose the local OS time zone has been set as server time zone. If the local OS time zone is changed, to enable server time zone to be set to a changed one, Service Desk server should be restarted.
4. When client or server time zone is changed, the information about time zone changing will be logged like as "<Time Zone> The time zone is set to:(UTC+01:00) - test time zone - TEST".
5. Service Desk only support one hour as the amount of time saved during DST.
6. After upgrading Service Pack, please first check all time zones you used in Service Desk and modify those inconsistent ones according to actual needed.
7. There isn’t the limitation of max number of time zones. But it is not recommended to add too many time zones due to performance issue.

### Use Time Zones

Example 1:
Add a new time zone named Test and set it as both server and client time zone.
Rule: the time zone offset is UTC+06:00 and DST is enabled. DST begins in 2:00 a.m. of the second Sunday in March and ends in 1:00 a.m. of the last Monday in October.
1. Add a new time zone.

Figure 9 - Example1: Add a New Time Zone
2. Select it as server time zone.

Figure 10 - Example1: Set the New Time Zone as Server Time Zone
3. Restart Service Desk server.
4. Clear Service Desk client cache.
5. Restart Service Desk client.
6. Select this time zone as client time zone.

Example 2:
Modify the time zone added in Example 1.
Rule: the time zone offset is UTC-03:00 and DST is enabled. DST begins in 1:00 a.m. of the last Sunday in November and ends in 1:00 a.m. of the first Saturday in February.
1. Select the time zone added in Example 1 and modify it.

Figure 11 - Example2: Modify the New Time Zone added in Example 1
2. Restart Service Desk server.
3. Clear Service Desk client cache.
4. Restart Service Desk client.

## Limitations

1. The log time in log files is based on the OS time zone.
2. If time zone DST definition in Service Desk has been updated to date, whereas the same time zone in OS is not. Then the time displayed based Service Desk time zone may be inconsistent with the one in OS time zone even though two time zones' name are same.
Please refer to Appendix and note that so far only US time zones are supported to solve limitation 1 and 2. For others, please take it as a sample about how to get a definitive solution to solve them.
3. Whether the server time zone is customized and change of server time zone are added for enhanced auditing or not, but operations of adding, modifying or removing on time zone are still not be supported for enhanced auditing consistent with prior Service Packs.

## Localization

I18N (Internationalization) of Flexible Time Zones feature includes four parts, which are internationalization for time zone form name, time zone view title name, label texts and messages texts.
After installing the localization pack, new form name, view title name, labels and (error) messages could be translatable.
Normally, there are two ways to implement the I18N of Flexible Time Zones feature:
1. The translated data could be imported into Service Desk database through data exchange feature
- hp OpenView service desk > Data > Data Exchange
2. They can also be respectively done in
- hp OpenView service desk > Presentation > Localized Text > Form
- hp OpenView service desk > Presentation > Localized Text > View Title
- hp OpenView service desk > Presentation > Localized Text > Label Text
- hp OpenView service desk > Presentation > Localized Text > Message Text

## Web-API

1. To access time zone using the Web API, Java developers need to regenerate the Web API, compile it, and replace the original Web API jar file with the new Web API jar file in their Java applications. This function has been implemented in ITSM008292. Please refer to ITSM008292 for more information.
2. For new methods, please refer to Web API javadoc, here lists the change of some methods,

Interface | Old Method | New Method
--- | --- | ---
ILabelHome | getLbAdd | getLbAddToDisplayList
ITimeZones | getAdd | getAddToDisplayList
ITimeZones | setAdd(java.lang.Boolean value) | setAddToDisplayList(java.lang.Boolean value)
ITimeZonesEntitlement | isModifyAllowedAdd | isModifyAllowedAddToDisplayList
ITimeZonesEntitlement | isRequiredAdd | isRequiredAddToDisplayList
ITimeZoneHome | getLabelAdd | getLabelAddToDisplayList
ITimeZoneHome | searchOnAdd(java.lang.Boolean value) | searchOnAddToDisplayList(java.lang.Boolean value)
ITimeZonesWhere | addCriteriumOnAdd(java.lang.Boolean value) | addCriteriumOnAddToDisplayList(java.lang.Boolean value)
ITimeZonesWhere | addCriteriumOnAddRange(java.lang.Boolean[] value) | addCriteriumOnAddToDisplayListRange(java.lang.Boolean[] value)

## Technical information

1. No table added for this feature, but several columns are added into table REP_TIME_ZONES.
2. As generally known, all times and dates are stored in the database as UTC. That means that all time and date fields are converted to the GMT+0 (=UTC time zone. UTC is GMT+0, but without the DST component as it is observed in Greenwich) from based time zone in Servers, Clients and Service Pages servlets. Service Desk uses history lines for auditing fields and changes to those fields. The date + time of field changes is stored in the history line Subject field, and therefore the date + time is converted to text. Hence, these dates/times are NOT converted.
Of course, installing Service Pack 22 will not change the dates/times of Servicecalls, Problems, Changes, Persons, Historylines, etc.

## Appendix

Important:
To add support for the US DST changes in 2007,
- Time Zone definition in Service Desk should be updated to date.
- OS patches should be installed.
- JDK 1.4.2 time zone data should be updated using updater tool.
- HP OpenView recommends using JDK 1.4.2_09. Tzupdater tool will enable JDK 1.4.2_09 to support US DST Changes in 2007. Please refer to ITSM007871 for JDK version support information.
- For webapi applications, the OS and JDK which they required should also be patched or upgraded in order to support US DST Changes in 2007.
1. Download and install OS patches (for client, server, servicepages and any webapi applications)
The following patches have to be installed.
- Windows:
Download OS Patch of Windows 2003 or Windows XP
- HP-UX:
Download OS Patch of HP-UX.B.11.00 from ITRC
Download OS Patch of HP-UX.B.11.11 from ITRC
Download OS Patch of HP-UX.B.11.23 from ITRC
- Solaris:
Download and install SunOS 5.8 timezone patch (109809-04) from SunSolve (new version 109809-05)
Download and install SunOS 5.9 timezone patch (113225-04) from SunSolve (new version 113225-05)

2. Download and upgrade JDK version (for server, servicepages and any webapi applications)
If JDK 1.4.2_09(or lower version) is used, it should be updated time zone data using updater tool, which has been packaged into SDSK_00106.
- HP JDK version: (it is mainly for HP-UX)
a. Expand <SDSK_00106 installation package>\tzupdater\hp-jdk-tzupdater-1.0.tar
b. Execute <JDK/JRE 1.4.2 directory>/bin/java -jar tzupdater.jar -u -bc
You can also download the updater tool from below link:
Download HP JDK 1.4.2 time zone updater tool
- Sun JDK version: (it is mainly for Solaris and Windows)
a. Expand <SDSK_00106 installation package>\tzupdater\sun-jdk-tzupdater-1_0_0.zip
* Windows:
b. Execute <JDK/JRE 1.4.2 directory>\bin\java -jar tzupdater.jar -u -bc
* Solaris:
b. Execute <JDK/JRE 1.4.2 directory>/bin/java -jar tzupdater.jar -u -bc
You can also download the updater tool from below link:
Download Sun JDK 1.4.2 time zone updater tool

3. Clear cache (for client, server and servicepages)
Clear the cache to make new timezones available. Because the new timezones may not be available if the old timezones caches exists.