vCenter Server Appliance backups initiate at UTC time instead of the configured local time

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• vCenter Server Appliance backup records visible on the VAMI page show backups have been taken according to UTC time.
• The appliance timezone has been modified to another such as CET+2.
• The appliance has been patched from an older version.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

Cause

During patching of the vCenter Server appliance, an rpm file which executes modifies the /etc/localtime file contents to point to UTC.

Resolution

VMware is aware of this issue and working to resolve it in a future release.

Workaround:
1. Set the timezone to UTC
2. Set it back to the desired timezone.