Guardian Programmer's Guide

Table Of Contents
Managing Time
Guardian Programmer’s Guide 421922-014
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Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time
an external reference clock. Typically a reference clock is associated with an NTP
server on the LAN or WAN.
HP NonStop™ Time Synchronization (TimeSync) synchronizes the NonStop system
clocks for all current NonStop and Neoview systems. It has the ability to act as an NTP
client, an NTP server, or both simultaneously. For more information about TimeSync,
see the Time Synchronization User’s Guide.”
Time Zones and Daylight Saving Time
Timestamps generated by the system can be presented in any of the standard time
representations listed below:
GMT or Greenwich mean time. This term is obsolete; its value was a popular
basis for calculating time throughout the world, based on the mean solar time for
the meridian at Greenwich, England. The standard replacement is UTC,
Coordinated Universal Time, based on many atomic clocks throughout the world.
To preserve the relationship of UTC to solar time, an occasional leap second is
added. The NonStop kernel does not implement leap seconds, so HP NonStop
documentation still refers to GMT.
LST or local standard time. This value represents time in the local time zone,
without any adjustment for daylight saving time. LST is GMT plus an offset that
depends on the time zone.
LCT or local civil time. This value represents time in the local time zone, including
any adjustment for daylight saving time (DST). LCT is LST plus a DST offset.
128-Bit, 64-Bit, and 48-Bit Timestamps
The operating system provides three kinds of timestamps: 64-bit Julian timestamps
and 48-bit timestamps in the TNS and native environments. All H-series and J-series
RVUs contain procedure calls using the 128-bit timestamp.128-bit timestamps provide
timestamps that can be used as unique identifiers across all CPUs in a node.
All 64-bit Julian timestamp and 48-bit timestamp procedure calls and information can
be used on TNS/E systems.
The TNS/E environment supports a 128-bit unique timestamp that returns a unique
value on every call within a single EXPAND network. This 128-bit timestamp
(returned by the TS_UNIQUE_CREATE_ procedure is based on the following
properties:
This timestamp is monotonically increasing when accessed on the same CPU.
The 128-bit timestamp is globally unique; it will never be the same as any other
timestamp returned by the TS_UNIQUE_CREATE_ procedure in any CPU in
the same EXPAND network.
A 64-bit Julian timestamp (returned by the JULIANTIMESTAMP procedure) is a
quantity equal to the number of microseconds since January 1, 4713 B.C.,