Incorrect crontab time

[Tracey]

I have several K460's running 10.20, one of them is an hour off when the crontab starts; i.e. I have it set for 21 hundred hours, and it starts at 22 hundred hours. I've checked and compared the timezone parameters between machines, they are all identical. Here is what I checked:

/etc/TIMEZONE >>Set to EST5EDT
/etc/profile >>Set to EST5EDT
/etc/cron.profile >>Set to EST5EDT
{{This is my self-made cron profile}}

Kernal Parameters:
timezone=300 (minutes East of Greenwich)
dst=1 (daylight savings time)

What else could be incorrect?

[John Palmer]

What is the dodgy server time set to? Do 'date -u' to get UCT.
Is it the same as the servers that work ok?
It sounds like a Daylight Savings time issue to me.

[Rick Garland]

Is the time correct on the K460?

Has the crontab file for the user been re-read? Are you using crontab -e or modifing the crontab file directly? If modifing the crtontab file directly, will need to stop/start the crom process so the file is re-read. This will pick up any cjanges that have been made to the crontab file(s).

[John Palmer]

One other possibility...

Have you changed the time on this server with the 'date' command? If so, you ought to stop and restart the cron daemon:-

/sbin/init.d/cron stop
/sbin/init.d/cron start

[Tracey]

date -u returns the current time + 4 hours.

Crontab are edited in a text file and then replaced with "crontab
date hasn't been set since long before the last machine boot.

Oh yeah, I do have the lastest cron patch PHCO_19985

[Rick Garland]

stop/start the cron process.

[CHRIS_ANORUO]

Hi Tracey,

In your Kernel Parameters:
set timezone=240

That is where the problem is coming from. This will reboot your server.

[Tracey]

Chris,

My Timezone is EST5EDT, which indicates that we are 5 hours west of greenwich 5*60 minutes=300 not 240. Why do you suggest 240? All of my machines are set to 300 and they all work fine - even with MS Exchange email date. Just this one is a problem child.

[P V Patel]

Hi,
First stop and start cron with following comands.
/sbin/init.d/cron stop
/sbin/init.d/cron start
Then run crontab -e command and save cron file.
P V Patel

[John Palmer]

Tracey,

You system date (GMT + 4 hours) is correct for EDT. We in the UK are currently on BST (GMT-1) and are 5 hours ahead of EDT.

I don't believe that the kernel parameter is significant.

Is there any difference between the file '/usr/lib/tztab' which defines the time zones on your problem server and one that is OK.?

If you examine that file you should see a section defining EST5EDT and when daylight savings time is in operation.

I also presume that 'date' returns the correct time EDT?

Regards,
John

[Tracey]

John,

The file /usr/lib/tztab are identical between the good/bad machines.

Yes "date" comes up with the correct info! :)

[Rick Garland]

Have you tried stoping/restarting the cron process?

It appears that your setup is correct but it is unknown if you have re-read the crontab file by bouncing the cron process.

[John Palmer]

Tracey,

I would also create a test cron entry to run a dummy job on the next hour to see whether restarting cron has fixed the problem.

Just get it to 'env'. When you check mail after the job has run you can also check what environment variables are being inherited from cron.

Regards,
John

[Rick Garland]

In reading the previous posts, you are correct. East Coast time is 5 hours from Greenwich time so that would be 300 minutes. EST5EDT. As you stated previously, you have the kernel param of timezone set to 300.

[James R. Ferguson]

Tracey:

I agree with John: I don't think the kernel parameter matters here. Document #W3396367 notes that "Most commands, which rely on...library routines, will get the correct behavior as long as the TZ environment variable is properly set for the users' environments, and ignore any values for the kernel parameters such as timezone.". See also document #W3608538. It contains some interesting comments on programattic access to various time functions.

Make sure that /etc/TIMEZONE is executable. It is sourced by /etc/profile in preference to setting a hard-coded TZ value.

For some pecularities of sendmail, see document #KBRC00001686. Sendmail uses a varible called in the
/etc/mail/sendmail.cf file which sets the timezone for mail messages.

...JRF...

[Nadeem Siddiqui]

I think you have a problem with the time syncronization, checking the following link might be helpful. http://devresource.hp.com/STK/man/11.00/dtscp_1m.html