The status message time in the SMS 2003 reporting feature is several hours later than expected (830642)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Systems Management Server 2003

SYMPTOMS

The status message time that is displayed in the Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) 2003 reporting feature may be several hours later than the status message time that is displayed in the Status Message Viewer. For example, if a program was started at 2:00 P.M., the reporting feature may indicate that the program was started at 9:00 P.M.

CAUSE

This issue occurs because, by default, time data is stored in the SMS 2003 database in the local time of the system that generated the data. However, some time data is stored in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Specifically, this is true of status messages that are stored in the v_StatusMessage view, in the v_ClientAdvertisementStatus view, in the Software Metering view, and in the Summarization view.

Additionally, some time data may be stored in UTC, depending on the time format that you select when you create the data. For example, when you select the ExpirationTime format in the v_Advertisements view, the data is stored in UTC.

MORE INFORMATION

To work around this issue, create an SQL statement for a report that includes a column for UTC data. When you add a column for UTC data, the data appears in the report in UTC format. If you want the report to use local time, you can use the following implicit variable in your SQL statement:

@__timezoneoffset

When you use this variable, SMS 2003 returns the offset from UTC in seconds. To convert to local time, use the following syntax: 
declare @__timezoneoffset int select @__timezoneoffset = DateDiff(ss,getutcdate(),getdate()) DATEADD(ss,@__timezoneoffset,<time column name>)
For more information about how to create SMS 2003 reports, see the SMS 2003 Operations Guide - Chapter 11, "Creating Reports." To download a copy of the SMS 2003 Operations Guide, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/smserver/techinfo/administration/default.asp

STATUS

This behavior is by design.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:6/13/2005
Keywords:kbprb KB830642 kbAudITPRO
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