NetResults

Reason for the Patch

For 2007 (and beyond), DST in the following time zones starts the second Sunday in March (instead of the first Sunday in April) and ends on the first Sunday in November (instead of the last Sunday in October). For 2007, this means that DST starts on March 11 (instead of April 1) and ends on November 4 (instead of October 28).

• Alaskan Time (UTC-09:00)
• Pacific Time (UTC-08:00)
• Mountain Time (UTC-07:00)
• Central Time (UTC-06:00)
• Eastern Time (UTC-05:00)
• Atlantic Time (UTC-04:00)
• Newfoundland Time (UTC-03:30)

This patch updates your ProblemTracker installation to use the new DST change dates for 2007 (and beyond) for the time zones listed above.

If your installation does not use any of these time zones, then you do not need to immediately install this patch. However, we still recommend that you install the patch now so that if one of your users does change their personal Time Zone preference to one of the affected time zones, the times that they enter into the system will be stored correctly. If you do not apply this patch and one of your users does select one of the affected time zones, date/time values which are displayed to or entered by them may be off by one hour.

Contents

The patch files are included in a zip archive named PT_50_DST_Changes_rev1.zip. The patch has two components: a file with the new time zone information (PTTimeZone.inc) and a file with software to update any dates in your database that may have been incorrectly stored (pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp). It also includes a copy of this readme file (pt_50_dst_changes_readme_rev1.htm).

How the Patch Works

ProblemTracker stores all date/time information in the database in a single common time zone (UTC). When storing or displaying dates, it automatically converts from the user's time zone to UTC (or vice versa). With the new time zone information file (PTTimeZone.inc) installed, date/time values entered by (displayed to) a user in one of affected time zones will properly take into account the new DST change dates. The update software (pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp) is provided to correct (if necessary) dates between the old and new DST change dates (for instance, between March 11, 2007 and April 1, 2007) that may have already been entered by a user in one of the affected time zones. The update software will scan your database for any such dates. Where possible, it will automatically adjust them (subtract by 1 hour). Otherwise, it will provide a list of potentially affected Records, Alerts, Saved Queries and/or Saved Charts. If none of the affected time zones are in use by any of your users, no dates will be changed. If none of the dates in your database fall between the old and new DST change dates (for instance, if users never enter "future" dates), no dates will be changed. The Record History (audit trail) and Discussion (thread/message) dates will not be modified because they are never entered (and can not be modified) by an end user. They are always retrieved from the web server operating system (Windows) and stored in the database in UTC. They are only converted for display.

Prior to Installing the Patch

Prior to installing this patch, you must do the following.

1. Apply the Windows Operating System DST Patch

Prior to updating ProblemTracker, you must update the Windows operating system on the web server machine on which ProblemTracker is installed. Information on how to update your Windows operating system to handle the new DST change dates is available from Microsoft. Some of the relevant articles from Microsoft Support are listed below.

• Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center
• February 2007 cumulative time zone update for Microsoft Windows operating systems (Windows Server 2003)
• How to configure daylight saving time for the United States in 2007 (Windows 2000 Server)

2. Backup your ProblemTracker Installation

Details on how to backup your installation are available in the following ProblemTracker Knowledge Base article.

• Make a Backup of your ProblemTracker Installation

Installation Instructions

After you have followed the instructions in the 'Prior to Installing the Patch' section (above), follow the instructions below to apply this patch to your ProblemTracker installation.

1.  On the web server machine where ProblemTracker is installed, login to Windows as local Administrator (or an user in the local Administrators group).

2.  Login to Workgroup Management System (WMS) as ptadmin in a new browser.

3.  Click on Admin icon in the tool bar. Select the option (View Common Parameters used by WMS) and click the Continue button.

4.  In the 'View Global Information' page, write down the value for Web Directory. You will need this value later in this process. By default, it will be C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ProblemTracker. It may be a value other than the default, if the default was overridden during the original installation.

5.  Block all your workgroups. To block a workgroup, do the following:

1. Click on the Admin icon. Select the option (Block/Unblock Workgroups) and click the Continue button.
2. Select a workgroup and click the Block button.
3. The State column should display Blocked for this workgroup.

6.  Unzip the PT_50_DST_Changes_rev1.zip file into a temporary directory (for example, C:\temp). The patch should contain the following files:

• pt_50_dst_changes_readme_rev1.htm
• pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp
• PTTimeZone.inc

7.  Copy the file: PTTimeZone.inc into the following directory: <Web Directory>\pttemplate\Include, where <Web Directory> is the directory you looked up in step 4. Click Yes to replace the old PTTimeZone.inc file.

8.  Copy the file: pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp into the following directory: <Web Directory>\pttemplate, where <Web Directory> is the directory you looked up in step 4.

9.  If you have created a custom login page (modified logintop.inc or loginbottom.inc files) for any of your workgroups, make certain you have saved a copy of the modified logintop.inc and/or loginbottom.inc files before performing the next step (step 10 - repair workgroups). Then, after performing step 10, copy the saved logintop.inc and/or loginbottom.inc files back into each workgroup. See the Customizing the Login Page section of the Administration Guide for further information. To find the disk location of each workgroup, click the Home icon in the WMS and note the path in the Location column on the Home page.

10.  Repair each of your workgroups. To repair each workgroup, do the following:

1. In the Workgroup Management System (WMS), click on the Repair icon.
2. Select the workgroup name from the pulldown and click on the Repair button.
3. Select ONLY Option 1 Copy Web Files and deselect (uncheck) the other two options (Option 2 and Option 3).
4. Click on the Repair Workgroup button to proceed and complete the repair operation.

11.  Open a new web browser, and browse to:

http://<Web Server Name>/<Workgroup>/pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp

where <Web Server Name> is the web server where ProblemTracker is installed and <Workgroup> is the name of the workgroup.

Example: http://localhost/pteval/pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp

12.  Follow the instructions on the pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp page and complete updating the workgroup database with the DST changes and then close the web browser.

13.  After successfully updating the workgroup database, delete the pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp file from the workgroup directory.

14.  Perform steps 9 to 13 (above) for each of your workgroups.

15.  Unblock all your workgroups. To unblock all workgroups, do the following:

1. Click on the Admin icon. Select the option (Block/Unblock Workgroups) and click Continue button.
2. Select a workgroup and click the Unblock button.
3. The State column should display Not Blocked for this workgroup.

16.  Logoff Workgroup Management System (WMS) and close your web browser.

17.  Delete the pt_dst_changes_rev1.asp file from the following directory: <Web Directory>\pttemplate, where <Web Directory> is the directory you looked up in step 4.

18.  You have now applied the DST Changes to ProblemTracker successfully.

If you have any questions regarding this patch, please contact NetResults Technical Support.