Version

Argent Advanced Technology 3.1A-1407-A and later

Date

Friday, 22 Aug 2014

Summary

When Motors uses different Time Zones, the Motors later in Time Zone are reported as offline by the Motors with earlier hours

Take a two-Motor installation as an example, one Motor runs in Eastern Time Zone, the other in Pacific Time Zone

The one in Pacific Time Zone may be reported as offline, and no tasks will be assigned

As a result, the false offline Motors will be idle while some Motors will have to do all the tasks

Due to limitation of some SQL Server versions, using different Time Zones for Motors are NOT allowed

Argent AT 3.1A-1407-T1 and later have been enhanced to do the checking

If discrepancy is found, Motors will be shut down

Technical Background

Argent AT uses HEARBEAT column to identify the running status of Motors

Argent AT Motors periodically update the column using the current time

SQL Server 2008 and earlier does not support UTC date/time column

As a result, Argent AT Motor uses the date/time of local Time Zone

If Motors are using different Time Zones, Motors may be wrongly found offline

Resolution

Upgrade to Argent AT 3.1A-1407-T1 or later

Configure all the Motors to run using the same Time Zone settings