Configuring the Timezone Offset variable for specific LPARs in Watchtower
Article ID: 398612
Updated On:
Products
Issue/Introduction
When LPARs are not configured with the correct offset time, the data visualized in the WatchTower User Interface (UI) may be shown as associated to a future or previous time, as it relates to the current local time. This may cause issues with customers where LPARs have been configured in multiple time zones.
Environment
Watchtower 1.3
Resolution
In order to mitigate the issue, WatchTower 1.3 has introduced an environment variable 'LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS' to control the Timezone Offset by allowing input of the Timezone Offset for each LPAR.
Here are the options in setting the Timezone Offset in WT 1.3:
Option 1: Configuring during Watchtower installation
If Watchtower is not installed, then configure the environment in the install_values.yaml file (the file that is provided during WatchTower new install).
Include the following environment variable in this format:
Comma separated, key=value pair where the key is LPAR name and the value is the offset time
Ingestor:
lparTimezoneOffsets: "LPAR1=+08:00,LPAR2=+08:00,LPAR3=-06:00"
This is how this variable translates to the environment in WatchTower 1.3:
After installation the data-insights-configmap it will have the following environment variable set as shown:
LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS: LPAR1=+08:00,LPAR2=+08:00,
LPAR3=-06:00
Option 2: Configuring after Watchtower installation
If Watchtower is installed and the install_values.yaml file was not edited, or want to add/edit values of the env, then set the env by following the steps below:
1. Edit the data-insights-configmap and add the ENV
kubectl edit configmap data-insights-configmap -n <namespace>
Add the following ENV under data:
LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS: LPAR1=+08:00,LPAR2=+08:00,LPAR3=-06:00
2. Scale down data-insights-ingestor deployment
kubectl scale deployment data-insights-ingestor --replicas 0 -n <namespace>
3. Edit the data-insights-ingestor deployment
kubectl edit deployment data-insights-ingestor -n <namespace>
Add the following ENV under spec: containers: - env: section
- name: LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS
valueFrom:
configMapKeyRef:
key: LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS
name: data-insights-configmap
optional: true
4. Scale up data-insights-ingestor deployment
kubectl scale deployment data-insights-ingestor --replicas 1 -n <namespace>
5. In order to persist the changes over upgrades, then configure the env in the upgrade_values.yaml file (the file that is provided during WatchTower upgrade install).
Include the following environment variable in this format:
Comma separated, key=value pair where the key is LPAR name and the value is the offset time
Ingestor:
lparTimezoneOffsets: "LPAR1=+08:00,LPAR2=+08:00,LPAR3=-06:00"
This is how this variable translates to the environment in WatchTower 1.3:
After installation the data-insights-configmap it will have the following environment variable set as shown:
LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS: LPAR1=+08:00,LPAR2=+08:00,
LPAR3=-06:00
Here is how to verify the ENV after the changes are made:
Following are the steps to validate the env in the log: Execute the commandNAMESPACE=<namespace>;kubectl logs -f $(kubectl get pod -l app=data-insights-ingestor -n $NAMESPACE -o jsonpath="{.items[0].metadata.name}") -n $NAMESPACE | grep LPAR_TIMEZONE_OFFSETS
Look for the following:
Defaulted container "data-insights-ingestor" out of: data-insights-ingestor, init-db (init) 2025-05-22 21:12:43.128000000+0000 INFO 1 --- [ main] c.b.msd.wt.ingestor.parser.
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