Multiple time zones - Metasys - LIT-1201645 - MS-ADSxxx-x - MS-ADXxxx-x - Server - ADS Server - ADX Server - 12.0

Multiple time zones are set with an attribute on the network engine's Site object called Default Time Zone and the network engine's object Time Zone attribute. The Default Time Zone attribute has a drop-down list of all available world time zones to identify the local time zone where the engine is located. The operator is no longer required to apply time zone math when working with Schedule objects defined at the engine. The time zone you select is also applied to Schedule objects you define at the engine.

By default, each updated network engine continues to time-sync with the Site Director, but the time sync occurs in UTC time. For example, a Site Director in the central time zone (UTC-06:00) that syncs with an engine in the mountain time zone (UTC-07:00) does not change the engine to the central time zone. The local time and date attributes of the Site Director show its local time and date as does the network engine. Also, consider the following:

• Scheduling: schedules at each network engine execute relative to the local time zone of the engine, allowing you to schedule based on the local time zone, rather than the Site Director's time zone. Before Release 8.0, you had to take into account the local time zone of the engine, then mentally convert the time based on the time zone of the Site Director. These time zone calculations are no longer required.
• Historical data: alarms, audits, and trended values from engines that are viewed on the Site Director report in local UTC time. However, alarms, audits, and trended values from engines that are viewed on the engine itself report in local time.
• Other features: items such as Archive Date and ADS Delivery Time report in the local time of the engine.

Both the Site Director and the network engines must be at Release 8.0 or later to take advantage of the multi-time zone features. If a site has a mixture of engines at different Metasys releases, the older engines do not exhibit this new feature. For example, as Table 1 indicates, the local time of an engine at Release 7.0 uses the Site Director's time, whereas an engine at Release 8.0 or later uses a time specified by its Default Time Zone attribute.