Scenario: Adjust the system time 3 minutes

Situation

As an administrator of your company's network, you need to maintain the system time on your IBM^® iSeries™ server. Your iSeries server is set to use the Eastern Standard Time zone, but you notice that the system time on your iSeries server is off by 3 minutes. Instead of manually setting the system time using the time of day system value, you need to make a time adjustment to ensure that your jobs run with the proper time. This also ensures that time does not jump either forward or backward in one instantaneous change.

Objectives

In this scenario, MyCompany, Inc. needs to adjust the system time 3 minutes. Jobs retrieve their time values from the system time. Therefore, it is critical that the system time be accurate so that jobs run with the proper time.

The objectives of this scenario are as follows:

• To adjust system time backward 3 minutes
• To ensure that jobs run with the proper time
• To ensure that time does not jump forward or backward in one instantaneous change

Details

The system time on iSeries A is ahead 3 minutes. The system time needs to be slowed down until it is set to 3 minutes less than the current time. You cannot manually change the time of day system value because that would essentially repeat the last 3 minutes of system time. The type of repetition can cause unpredictable errors if time-sensitive programs are running.

Prerequisites and assumptions

Based on this scenario, your system must meet the following requirements to make a time adjustment:

• Your system is using V4R5 or later hardware.
• You are running i5/OS™ V5R3 or later.
• Your are using IBM iSeries Access for Windows^® V5R3 or later to communicate with your system.
• Your system does not retrieve UTC from an external time source.

In addition, it is recommended that you turn off any time maintenance applications that are in use. A manual time adjustment might conflict with any adjustments that the time maintenance application might make.

Time-adjustment steps

Assuming that time adjustments are allowed on your system, complete the following steps:

1. In iSeries Navigator, expand My Connections > iSeries A > Configuration and Service > Time Management > Time Adjustment.
2. On the Time Adjustment dialog box, click Start a new time adjustment. If a time adjustment is in progress, the current time adjustment will be stopped. Before proceeding, make sure that the current adjustment can be stopped.
3. Specify -0:03:00 (3 minutes).
4. Click OK to start the time adjustment.
5. View the Time Adjustment fields on the Time Adjustment dialog box. The following fields should be displayed:
   • Adjustment in progress: Yes
   • Adjustment remaining: HH:MM:SS (where HH represents the hours, MM represents the minutes, and SS represents the seconds)
   • Estimated time until completion: HH:MM:SS

A time adjustment is in progress until the system time reaches the time value specified. Click Refresh Now to update the statistics displayed.