[BALUG-Admin] BALUG VM (& "vicki" - sometimes physical host of BALUG): default timezone --> UTC (?

[Michael Paoli]

So ... did this a while ago,
for "vicki" and the balug VM, changed the system default timezone
2019-05-26T23:23:22+0000 Michael Paoli
reconfigured default system timezone to Etc/UTC
... and rather close in time to that, likewise on the vicki host.

And, more recently, updated some cron[tab] jobs,
most notably I pushed most all the daily/weekly/monthly ones forward 8
hours.  Why?  To better correlate to / coordinate with local times,
e.g. monthly email reminders/stats - to continue 1st of month, rather
than local last of month.  Also, sf-lug list backups, better correlate
to grabbing those relatively freshly after their available,
as opposed to - 7 or - 8 + 24 = about 16 or 17 hours after they
become available, likewise keep those data transfers generally towards
wee/early hours of the AM local time (at/towards minimum, or at least lower
traffic periods).

> From: "Michael Paoli" <Michael.Paoli@cal.berkeley.edu>
> Subject: BALUG VM (& "vicki" - sometimes physical host of BALUG):  
> default timezone --> UTC (?
> Date: Sun, 26 May 2019 11:09:34 -0700

> Unless someone convinces me otherwise (unlikely),
> I'll probably proceed fairly soon, to reconfigure the
> BALUG VM (Virtual Machine) - (host balug-sf-lug-v2.balug.org)
> and likewise "vicki" (hostname vicki - and the sometimes /
> semi-regular physical host of the BALUG VM)
> to default to using UTC.
> To minimize surprises/disruptions - in addition to this notice,
> I'll probably make that change upon a (re)boot of those hosts
> (e.g. on reboot, go to single user mode, reconfigure,
> then reboot per normal to multi-user).
>
> Rationale:
> o security, etc. - many won't even consider looking at logs if they're
>   not in UTC
> o no matter who uses it from where on the planet, one zone all can (well
>   approximately) reasonably agree upon
> o no need/reason to change it in the (unlikely) even it moves to another
>   physical location, or timezone at existing physical location changes
> o "principle of least surprise" - if it was a whole bunch 'o local folks
>   doing admin, etc. on the box, and especially more "jr." folks, local
>   would be of least surprise.  But alas, yours truly does >>~=99.7 %
>   of the systems administration, etc. on those hosts, so that being
>   the case, and having been the case quite a while, and seeming improbable
>   to change ... for me, that "principle of least surprise", and other
>   reasons/advantages ... UTC
> o Users can always use TZ setting to whatever they wish that's available,
>   we're only talking about the system default timezone, e.g.:
>   $ TZ=America/Los_Angeles; export TZ