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The (Daylight Saving) Time(s) They Are A-Changin'

As a public service message on behalf of those that literally control time (the U.S. Congress) and their 2005 decision to change the start and end of Daylight Saving Time (DST for those who enjoy acronyms) in the United States (US), don't forget to install any applicable Microsoft product updates to ensure the DST switch starting in March 2007 doesn't impact you adversely. 

Time, from my own personal experience, can be a very important part of any IT pro's day-to-day activities, like time stamps on digital certs, audit trails, etc.  Microsoft has set up a detailed site with...er...details on what you'll need to do for a bunch of our products:

Preparing for daylight saving time changes in 2007

Don't forget to do the same with your network infrastructure equipment.  For example, I did a quick search on cisco.com, and they have a lengthy document covering the impact to their IP Application Services:

U.S. Daylight Saving Time (DST) Changes for 2007

In some cases, Cisco recommends manually changing the time zone details in March and November per the new rules. Yuck.

Okay, it'll be good for you to get in front of this mini-Y2K type scenario (DSTY2K7). And, don't forget to use the spring forward as a chance to re-check the batteries on your smoke detectors, and to make sure your network infrastructure disaster recovery plans are up to date!

To close, I very much enjoyed this old U.S. federal government cartoon (courtesy of the Wikipedia) from the people who are actually mandating that we change time:

Comments

  • Anonymous
    January 29, 2007
    thanks!