Well, it’s that time again. Time for the clocks to change, as a result of Daylight Savings Time (DST). If you are an Exchange administrator, and haven’t heard how the time changes impact your messaging environment, then you have probably been shipwrecked on a deserted island with no communication to the outside world.

On Aug. 8, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which among other things extended the period of Daylight Saving Time by four weeks. Starting this year, Daylight Saving Time began in March, three weeks earlier in much of the United States and Canada, and will end one week later - the first Sunday in November. While the Act was designed as an energy conservation measure, it has had less than desirable effects on IT organizations.

In addition to DST changes in North America, there are going to be time changes in Jordan, Egypt, New Zealand and Western Australia that weren’t accounted for in the spring updates. The global impact to Outlook calendars and Exchange calendaring using CDO, are among the most visible issues end users and Exchange administrators will experience.

As an Exchange administrator, what do I need to do to prepare for DST time change this fall?

For companies that have not updated their messaging environment to adapt to DST changes, they should act now. The best resource is the Daylight Savings Time 2007 Help and Support Center, which is a very comprehensive resource addressing all the interoperating software updates required. Updates and tools for Exchange Server consist of the following:

• Windows Operating Systems Updates (NT, 2000, XP, Windows 2003 Server, Vista)
• Exchange Server Updates (5.5, 2000, 2003 and 2007)
• Office Outlook Updates (2000, XP, 2003 and 2007)
• The Exchange / Outlook Time Zone Data Update Tool
• Third party applications running on the Windows platform

Read more at source: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/09/13/447008.aspx

Technorati : DST, Exchange Administrator
Del.icio.us : DST, Exchange Administrator