Implementing local time instead of GMT / UTC in a Datacom Server trace

Products

• Datacom

Issue/Introduction

The timestamps in a Datacom Server mainframe trace may be written in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/GMT). This document describes how to set the local time zone for the Server mainframe task for sites who wish to view local times instead.

 

Resolution

The functions used to produce the timestamps in a Server mainframe trace rely on the TZ environment variable (ENVAR) to convert from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) to local time. If the TZ variable is not set, the conversion does not take place. Therefore, if the trace output shows UTC time, the TZ variable is not set in the system.

You can use the ENVAR run-time option to set the appropriate local time zone. The syntax for the ENVAR option as a run-time PARM is as follows:

 

 	PARM='ENVAR("TZ=")/' 

 

For example, in the eastern United States where daylight savings time is observed, code the following in the Server Mainframe startup JCL:

 

 	PARM='ENVAR("TZ=EST5EDT")/' 

 

To verify the setting at your site, you can issue the OMVS command "echo $TZ".

To reiterate, change the Server region startup JCL to the following to see the correct local time for the eastern US.

 

 	// EXEC PGM=SVDBSPR,REGION=0M,PARM='ENVAR("TZ=EST5EDT")/' 

 

IBM is the ultimate source to determine the correct setting for your local time zone. As of this writing, these are some commonly used values taken from the IBM documentation:

North American Values

TZ environment variables values for North America are listed below.

• EST5EDT: Eastern Standard Time, Eastern Daylight Time
  
  
• CST6CDT: Central Standard Time, Central Daylight Time
  
  
• MST7MDT: Mountain Standard Time, Mountain Daylight Time
  
  
• PST8PDT: Pacific Standard Time, Pacific Daylight Time
  
  
• AKST9AKDT: Alaska Standard Time, Alaska Daylight Time

European Values

TZ environment variables values for Europe are listed below.

• GMT0BST: Greenwich Mean Time, British Summer Time
  
  
• WET0WEST: Western Europe Time, Western Europe Summer Time
  
  
• CET-1CEST: Central Europe Time, Central Europe Summer Time
  
  
• EET-2EEST: Eastern Europe Time, Eastern Europe Summer Time