Time zone of server

ERPNext User Forum
1

Hi

ERPNext: v12.26.0 (version-12)
Frappe Framework: v12.23.0 (version-12)

I have read a few posts and articles on the time-zone of ERPNext and read that the server
time-zone should match that of ERPNext.

It seems that I slipped up in that i did not do that. I haven’t noticed anything that should
alarm me … al my transactions are date and time stamped correctly. And I have been working
like this for a few months now.

I can change it … no problem … I am just wondering if I stand to loose any data ??

My server time info is as follows…
( The output of timedatectl )

time_zone

At the time that this screen shot was made it was 18h34 here in South Africa (UTC+2)

Here is my server LOCALE settings…

time_zone_2

Could someone please offer some advise. It will be appreciated.

2

Hi John,

TL;DR - You will not lose any data by changing the machine’s time zone.

When ERPNext writes to its SQL tables, it uses the Time Zone defined under System Settings. This has various pros and cons. Editing the server’s time zone won’t impact this.

What -will- be impacted are any cron jobs on the server. Those are executed based on the server’s time zone.

For example, assume your server is currently using UTC. You have a cron job that is performing a nightly backup at 11pm. If you update your server’s time zone to South Africa, the cron job will run the back at 11pm UTC+2. This may (or may not) be a good thing. If not, you’ll want to edit that line in your cron, and change the execution time to 1am South Africa (UTC 11pm).

~BP

3

Good day @brian_pond

Thank you for taking the time. Compliments of the season to you !

quote=“brian_pond, post:2, topic:84894”]
Editing the server’s time zone won’t impact this.
[/quote]

Ah ! I understand. Good to know.

I did some reading up as well and it seems the SQL-timestamp for entries is in UTC
after conversion from the application time-zone ?

Good thing you mentioned the CRONs. I was thinking of this from an ERPNext perspective, but
there is the underlying system and its functions as well. I shall check the CRONs.

I feel a bit like an idiot because I should have thought of this when I configured Ubuntu !!

Anyway … let me tackle …
timedatectl set-timezone …

Appreciate your time!

4

The SQL datetime values are stored per ERPNext Time Zone (System Settings). See screenshot below. I created that Supplier at 12:13pm local.

image
image1178×471 31.8 KB

5

Thank you @brian_pond

I assume the doc I read was refering to something else.

Thanks for taking the time. Appreciated

6

What db tool is that?

And where does “dbspec1” come from? This is not a name which looks like installation generated. What do you use it for?