Field Notice: FN 62924 - Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) - Considerations for Daylight Saving Time Change 2007 for New Zealand

September 5, 2007

NOTICE:

THIS FIELD NOTICE IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS AND DOES NOT IMPLY ANY KIND OF GUARANTEE OR WARRANTY, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY. YOUR USE OF THE INFORMATION ON THE FIELD NOTICE OR MATERIALS LINKED FROM THE FIELD NOTICE IS AT YOUR OWN RISK. CISCO RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE OR UPDATE THIS FIELD NOTICE AT ANY TIME.

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Products Affected

Products Affected
CVP - 2.1(X)
CVP - 3.0(X)
CVP - 3.1(X)
CVP - 4.0(X)

 

Problem Description

The time zone update reflects the recent Daylight Savings Time (DST) extensions announced by the New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (see New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs official DST announcement). In New Zealand beginning September 2007, DST will start one week earlier than usual and end two weeks later. Specifically, New Zealand DST will start at 2:00 A.M. on the last Sunday in September and end the first Sunday in April at 3:00 A.M. Without making the modification detailed in this field notice, operating systems and applications that reference New Zealand local time will be off by one hour during two distinct periods:

1) Last Sunday in September - first Sunday in October

2) Last two Sundays in March - first Sunday in April

Background

On April 30, 2007, the Minister of Internal Affairs issued a statement regarding a change in Daylight Saving Time policy for New Zealand. The change in policy has modified the start and end dates for Daylight Saving Time (DST). Beginning in 2007 and beyond, Daylight Saving Time in New Zealand will start on the last Sunday of September at 2:00 A.M. local time and end on the first Sunday of April at 3:00 A.M. local time.

Specifically for 2007-2008, Daylight Saving Time will begin at 2:00 A.M. local time on September 30, 2007, and end at 3:00 A.M. local time on April 6, 2008.

For more information, see the statement issued by the Minister of Internal Affairs: Daylight saving to be extended.

The old Daylight Saving Time policy dictated that DST started on the first Sunday in October and ended on the third Sunday in March.

Time zone information is stored in a time zone database called the tz database or zoneinfo. The tz database is updated periodically to reflect changes made by political bodies to time zone boundaries, UTC offsets, and daylight-savings rules. For more information, see the ZoneInfo home page. This notice is intended to both alert you to the specific impact of the Daylight Savings Time change and to detail the necessary steps that should be taken. Specifically this notice provides information about the time zone update referred to as tz2007f or tzdata2007f .

Note: This update includes all previous updates specified by Cisco Field Notice 62768.

Microsoft Windows Considerations

In general, the Enterprise and Hosted Contact Center product components rely on the underlying Windows operating system to manifest time zone context, including DST start and end event timing. For this reason, all Enterprise, Hosted, and Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) Contact Center customers must adhere to Microsoft's guidance for Windows system maintenance to ensure their systems are updated for the tz2007f change.

Windows Server 2003 and Server 2003 Service Pack 1 customers can obtain a software patch from Microsoft that will apply the necessary update to their servers. Client applications running on Windows XP SP2 can likewise obtain this update. See the Microsoft link following this paragraph. Windows 2000 Server customers should contact Microsoft regarding procedures applicable to their version of the operating system, and to patch availability as it applies to holders of an extended support agreement (if applicable).

See the following Microsoft links describing system preparation and steps, and also Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article numbers 933360 and 933853.

Daylight Saving Time Help and Support Center

Preparing for Daylight Saving Time changes in 2007

Microsoft Support Knowledge Base 933360

Microsoft Support Knowledge Base 933853

IBM AIX Considerations

For CVP 4.0 deployments on AIX operating systems, you must update AIX 5L version 5.3 to Technology Level 4 or higher.

Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal

The Cisco Unified Voice Portal Application Server 2.x and 3.x runs on Windows 2000 Server. The operating system patch listed above, under Microsoft Windows Considerations, for customers with extended support contracts should be used to update all CVP Applications servers so the system clock on those servers will be at the correct value. This also applies for the operating system on Unified CVP VXML Server and Studio machines. For those customers without the extended support contract, follow the manual steps listed in the link and KB articles in the Microsoft Windows Considerations section above.

The Cisco Unified Voice Portal Application Server 4.x runs on Windows 2003 Server. The operating system patch listed above under Microsoft Windows Considerations must be applied to all Windows 2003 Servers that run CVP 4.0.x components.

The Cisco Unified Voice Portal VXML Server and Studio, which is deployed with CVP 3.0, 3.1 and 4.0.x stores the time zone database within its internal tables. Sun Microsystems provides a tool to adjust these dates to the new values. Use this tool to update all CVP VXML Servers and Studio machines.

Secondarily, if the Unified CVP VXML Server is deployed with WebSphere Application Server, you must also update the Java technology that WebSphere uses.

If your Unified CVP solution is using Loquendo Speech Suite 7.0.7 as a voice server, the Loquendo Speech Suite 7.0.7 core components rely on the operating system clock, so the DST change does not require any additional patch. An optional component of the Speech Suite - the Loquendo Management Console - being a Java application will, however, require the JRE to be updated.

For all updates, see the Workaround/Solution section.

Problem Symptoms

Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP) Considerations

Failure to update the operating system for CVP Applications Servers and CVP VXML Servers will result in calls being logged at the wrong times with the new DST rules in effect. Failure to update the Java technology in the CVP VXML Server and Studio will cause the wrong times to be written to the logs for the CVP VXML Server.

Failure to update the operating system of the Reporting Server (CVP version 4.0.x and above only) will result in time value discrepancies in the database during the discrepancy period (New Zealand: last Sunday in September - first Sunday in October and the last two Sundays in March - first Sunday in April). Date and time values that originate from Java will be correct and will show a one hour difference from the date and time value originating in the reporting servers underlying OS. A breakdown of date and time values and their source is provided below.

Date and Time storage in the database:

There are three main dates in the tables - two are from the VXML server and one from the reporting server:

1) callstartdate - value comes from VXML Server's JRE

2) eventdatetime - value comes from VXML Server's JRE

3) dbdatetime - value comes from the Reporting Server's OS

Tables which include these values:

callevent

outgingECCvariable

vxmlsession

CVP 4.0.x and AIX

In addition, the administrator of an AIX system must set the DST rules to follow by configuring TZ environment variable specified in the /etc/environment file. If the administrator has specified that DST is observed, but no rules to select the date have been specified, then a default DST rule will be selected by the system. This default rule is set to match the DST rule for the United States.

Workaround/Solution

Microsoft Windows Considerations

Apply the Windows system maintenance - patch or manual process, as appropriate - per the Microsoft guidelines referenced in the Background section of this field notice.

Questions or special consideration issues should be provided directly to Microsoft. Cisco Enterprise and Hosted Contact Center customers have responsibility for administering their own Windows server operating system.

Cisco Unified Customer Voice Portal (CVP)

The applicable Windows 2000 update should be applied to the operating system as directed by Microsoft. Reference the "Microsoft Windows Considerations" in the Background section of this field notice.

To update the Java technology used in the Unified CVP VXML Server, go to the Java SE Downloads Page to obtain the JDK US DST Timezone Update Tool - version 1.2.1.

To update the Loquendo Management Console follow the instructions provided by Sun here:

U.S. Daylight Saving Time Changes in 2007

Java should be updated to version 1.4.2_11 or later. Note that 1.4.2_08 is the minimum requirement.

To update the WebSphere Application Server product, go to the following link and follow the instructions:

WebSphere Application Server Updates for Daylight Savings Time 2007

Additional information is available at:

IBM Time Zone Updates

IBM Time Zone Update Utility for Java Download Page

CVP 4.0.x and AIX

AIX 5L Version 5.3: Update to Technology Level 4 or higher following instructions at the AIX O/S updated to support 2007 Daylight Saving Time change page.

Revision History

Revision	Date	Comment
1.0	05-SEP-2007	Initial Public Release

 

For More Information

If you require further assistance, or if you have any further questions regarding this field notice, please contact the Cisco Systems Technical Assistance Center (TAC) by one of the following methods:

• Open a service request on Cisco.com
• By email
• By telephone

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