topic Re: Problem sendmail time information in Operating System - HP-UX

Problem sendmail time information

Luk Vandenbussche — Fri, 09 May 2003 12:08:29 GMT

Who can tell me exactly where sendmail gets its time info from.
In my case I have a TIMEZONE, TZ=WET0WETDST (for Belgium).
I don't use TimeZoneSpec in the file sendmail.cf
When I send a mail from my unix server at 15:03 (output of command date, exact time) to my exchange mailbox, in the file mail.log, the the mail is send at 13:03
When I look in my client mailbox, the arrival time is 15:03, but the send time in my mailbox, the time is 16:03.

How can I solve this problem? Who can explain this time difference?

Thanks a lot

Re: Problem sendmail time information

LucianoCarvalho — Fri, 09 May 2003 12:13:22 GMT

I think it's worthwile to test sendmail configuring it like this.

1. Specify a timezone in the /etc/mail/sendmail.cf file
in the following manner:

O TimeZoneSpec=GMT0BST

2. Execute the following commands to stop and re-start sendmail:

A. cd /sbin/init.d

B. ./sendmail stop

C. ./sendmail start

3. Send a test message.

regards.

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Donny Jekels — Fri, 09 May 2003 12:13:23 GMT

run this command.

echo \$Z | /usr/sbin/sendmail -bt -d

it will give you all your sendmail configs.

sendmail get its time from the system clock.

/etc/TIMEZONE

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Luk Vandenbussche — Fri, 09 May 2003 12:28:09 GMT

Luciano,

I performed a test : no difference.

Dony,

Which values says i am using my local timezone ??

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Sergejs Svitnevs — Fri, 09 May 2003 13:09:34 GMT

Try putting into sendmail.cf:

O TimeZoneSpec=

This will then get the TZ variable same way as every other programs and daemons.

Then restart sendmail daemon...
Regards,
Sergejs

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Luk Vandenbussche — Fri, 09 May 2003 13:15:09 GMT

Sergejs,

Problem is still the same.

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Seth Parker — Sat, 10 May 2003 20:52:49 GMT

This may be a silly question, but have you checked that the timezone is set consistently?

Try using /sbin/set_parms timezone to set the timezone for the machine, make sure that the /etc/profile has the correct timezone in it, and check to see that your and/or the client's .profile don't have a timezone setting in them.

If you use set_parms, you're going to have to reboot before it will take effect.

Good luck!
Seth

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Steven E. Protter — Sun, 11 May 2003 01:27:20 GMT

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Kasper Haitsma — Mon, 12 May 2003 08:45:39 GMT

Hi Luc,

To find out which system thinks what the time is, take a look at the received message on the Exchange box. Examine the header information. This will show when the hosts (involved in the route) think they handled the mail. It is usually relative to GMT

Received: from by ; Sat, 10 May 2003 06:22:47 +0200
Received: from by for ; Fri, 9 May 2003 21:22:45 -0700 (PDT)

So this message was sent 21:22 local (San Fransisco) time, 7 hours west of GMT, and received 06:22 local time (Amsterdam), 2 hours east of GMT. In fact it took only 2 seconds for the mail to travel. I think your TIMEZONE setting on hp-ux are not in sync with 'the rest of the world' WET0WETDST means, default you run WET, and during Daylight Saving Time (DST) you add/substract 0. In Amsterdam, we use MET-1METDST, so that during DST, we are 2 hours east of GMT, instead of 1 hour during non-DST. This explaines the 1 hour difference, since at the moment we live in DST.

I suggest you leave '# O TimeZoneSpec' in sendmail.cf alone, also remove any TZ settings in /etc/profile, $HOME/.profile.

To test, in your login shell, you could force your session to MET-1METDST, either by setting TZ in .profile, logoff/logon, or:
$ date
$ echo $TZ
$ export TZ=MET-1METDST
$ date
and see what the time is set then...

Hope this helps.

Kasper

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Kasper Haitsma — Mon, 12 May 2003 08:52:27 GMT

oops, ofcourse you need to set /etc/TIMEZONE either manually of through /sbin/set_parms, like perviously mentioned

Re: Problem sendmail time information

T G Manikandan — Mon, 12 May 2003 08:57:11 GMT

What does /etc/TIMEZONE file have.
Modify the entry to the appropriate timezone.

What about the TZ information in $HOME/.mailrc

check them out

Re: Problem sendmail time information

john korterman — Mon, 12 May 2003 10:37:50 GMT

Hi Luk,
You have already had a number of suggestions. If you think it worth while, try this, which tries to check with which time a mail is created on the unix machine.
Create a mail to an impossible addres in order that it will not be sent, e.g.:
# echo flop | sendmail klimbim@pladder.dk

Look for a file in /var/spool/mqueue ??? the newest starting with ???q???
# ls ???ltr /var/spool/mqueue/q*

if more than one appears, it is probably the last, e.g.:
-rw------- 1 root mail 433 Maj 12 13:27 /var/spool/mqueue/qfNAA00651

Now view it, example:
# strings /var/spool/mqueue/qfNAA00651
and look for the line containing the time stamp, e.g.:
for klimbim@pladder.dk; Mon, 12 May 2003 13:27:05 +0200 (METDST)

The line should also show the TZ offset used. If correct, you should be in the clear, and I think you can safely start by looking at the next machines in the line of events. If not, the problem is on the unix machine, and you???d then better check the other suggestions once more???.

Cleanup by removing the ???q??? file in question and the ???d??? file with the same id.

Regards,
John K.

Re: Problem sendmail time information

Luk Vandenbussche — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 04:23:23 GMT

Problem solved