Permanent Time Zone / DST Changes in British Columbia on ESP dSeries Workload Automation

Products

• ESP dSeries Workload Automation
• ESP dSeries Workload Automation - Scheduler (dSeries)

Issue/Introduction

Some regions are shifting to permanent Daylight Saving Time (DST) or making permanent time zone changes (e.g., British Columbia, Canada). Can you provide instructions on updating the JRE for the dSeries environment? 

Environment

• Product: ESP dSeries Workload Automation (all versions)
• Component: dSeries Server, Desktop Client, Web Client
• Java: Internal JRE (AdoptOpenJDK or IBM J9)

Cause

dSeries does not maintain an independent time zone database; it inherits rules from the Operating System (OS) and its internal Java Runtime Environment (JRE).

Ensure the tzdata package is at a version that includes the specific regional change (e.g., tzdata-2026b for the British Columbia permanent DST update).

Resolution

To ensure dSeries correctly reflects permanent changes, infrastructure-level updates are required. Follow these steps:

1. Update the Operating System

Patch the server OS with the latest time zone data package (e.g., tzdata-2026b for the British Columbia permanent DST update). The JRE often checks the OS for the default time zone setting, even if it uses its own internal database for calculations.

2. Update the dSeries JRE

The JRE used by dSeries maintains its own internal copy of time zone rules. You have two options to update this:

• Option A (Recommended): Upgrade to a JRE version that includes the necessary tzdata (e.g., JRE 8 Update 491 or later). Refer to Update JRE for dSeries.
• Option B (Patching): Use vendor-provided updater tool (e.g. Oracle tzupdater tool) to patch the existing JRE.
  • Command example: /opt/ca/wa/jre/bin/java -jar tzupdater.jar -l https://www.iana.org/time-zones/repository/releases/tzdata2026b.tar.gz

3. Re-Upload Events (Critical Step)

Updating the JRE does not automatically refresh existing events. In dSeries, when an event triggers, it calculates and stores the next scheduled run time.

• Action: Run scheduleallevents CLI command. This forces the scheduler to recalculate the "Next Scheduled Time" using the updated time zone rules.

4. Restart Services

A full restart of the dSeries Server, Desktop Client, and Web Client (if applicable) is mandatory after patching the OS or JRE to ensure the new rules are loaded into memory.