Thanks to all who responded.
We never explicitly configured any time zones per database, so the timezone was
"only" configured in 3 levels. In the end I had to do the following to change
the timezone for a node:
1. Change the OS timezone by editing the file /etc/sysconfig/clock and create a
soft link from the file /usr/share/zoneinfo/Australia/Brisbane to
/etc/localtimezone (also works for other RedHat based distributions - Doc ID
1931729.1)
2. Remove the TZ variable from the .bash_profile of both the grid and the
oracle users - they are apparently put in there by the initial install scripts,
and force a user-specific timezone. Not needed unless you want the TZ to differ
from the system timezone.
3. Edit the file $GRID_HOME/crs/install/s_crsconfig_<nodename>_env.txt which in
spite of the .txt extension is actually a configuration file. The setting in this
file overrides the user-level and system-level settings. In the same directory is
also a file called crsconfig_params, but that file is not important and can be left
as is ( Doc ID 1209444.1 - this also contains Linux OS instructions, but they are no
longer valid)
After changing the above, the node needs to be restarted. Or perhaps not,
Oracle support was not entirely clear on that point. Rebooting does not hurt
though, as the cluster ware does need to be restarted to make the change in
step 3 take hold.
According to Support, one is not allowed to change _anything_ on a storage cell
and that includes the timezone and password policy (another point of
contention). The compute nodes can run a different timezone than the storage
cells.
Cheers,
Tony
On 02/10/17 03:26, John Chacho wrote:
Check out these docs if you haven't already.
The first suggests "You can change the time zone that Oracle Clusterware uses for a
database by running the command |srvctl setenv database -env 'TZ=||time zone||'"|
Real Application Clusters Installation Guide
6.3 Understanding Time Zone Settings on Cluster Nodes
https://docs.oracle.com/database/122/RILIN/understanding-time-zone-settings-on-cluster-nodes.htm#RILIN1083
Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide
3.14 Setting Network Time Protocol for Cluster Time Synchronization
https://docs.oracle.com/database/122/CWAIX/setting-network-time-protocol-for-cluster-time-synchronization.htm#CWAIX-GUID-9A4CE718-6742-4F58-A8B0-2CCB6151E26F
Exadata Database Machine Maintenance Guide
4.11 Changing the Time Zone Settings
http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E80920_01/DBMMN/maintaining-exadata-components.htm#DBMMN22942
Regards,
John
On Sun, Oct 1, 2017 at 4:18 AM, De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dedba@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Update:
After shuttling the SR between RDBMS and NLS groups, Oracle allowed us to change the
time zone settings on just the compute nodes. They were not very clear on whether a
reboot was necessary and advised us that ".../for os level changing timezone you
might need to reboot server to effect the value/. /please/ _/check with Unix
admins/_/once on that/... " That was the NLS group, who were apparently oblivious to
the fact that the SR was raised as a Hardware/OS SR. By the UNIX admin... :/
Oracle Support is not what it used to be...
So we rebooted both nodes. All good & dandy, except the database still did
swap to DST after all that. Turns out that the bash profiles for both the oracle
and grid home owners had the TZ variable set to the original value, but removing
that still made no difference.
Checking the environment of the running clusterware processes, all of them
including the databases started with the clusterware tool srvctl, have yet
another setting for TZ. This is now the situation:
- system timezone = Australia/Brisbane
- oracle/grid TZ - reset (was Australia/Sydney)
- ocw timezone = Australia/Canberra
Where does the ocw get it's timezone setting from? The TZ it uses is not
expected or documented..
Cheers,
Tony
On 29/09/17 20:45, De DBA wrote:
Hi Franky,
Thanks, I did find that doc but it doesn't go into detail - especially
whether it is OK to have one or two components run with another timezone than
the rest of the stack. Also, I cannot find whether I need to reboot Linux after
changing the /etc/localtime file to make the OS notice the change..
Cheers,
Tony
On 29/09/17 19:41, Franky Weber Faust wrote:
Hi Tony,
You can follow this doc 1931729.1
Since Exadata runs Linux it should work for you.
Regards,
Franky
On Fri, 29 Sep 2017 at 00:55 De DBA <dedba@xxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:dedba@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
G'day.
A BI collegue just realised that this weekend part of Eastern Australia
will change over to Daylight Savings time. Our exadata is in that part, and set
up with the local timezone, but the business itself is not. As a result the
database will likely change to AEDT with the rest of the datacentre, throwing
all kind of schedules in disarray as batch jobs running in Queensland will
continue to run at their normal time (relative to UTC).
I can't seem to find any information on how to disable daylight savings
time safely for the entire exadata. Any ideas?
Cheers,
Tony
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Franky Weber Faust
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