If you read the mainstream media, the Daylight Savings Time bug will lead to the apocalypse that Y2K never was.

Hype, obviously, but nevertheless DST is a serious problem that all Oracle shops need to address. Besides the operating system problems, architect Chris Foote points out what the DST bug affects in Oracle:

•  JVM
• Time zone files
• Grid Control agents
• E-Business Suite
• Application Server

Unfortunately, the quantity of rants in the blogosphere indicates that Oracle’s response to the DST problem has been muddled at best. For example, over at the Yet Another Oracle DBA blog, Herod writes:

Is it just me, or is Oracle’s effort towards the DST seem to be a convoluted mess of notes, readme’s, more notes and superseding items. Download this, this, this, this, and this, and possibly this but only if you have this and this. 

Sounds like fun, especially if you have dozens or hundreds of systems to patch, like this blogger, who writes:

As someone who was forced to write DST checking scripts for an Enterprise of 1500+ Oracle databases, let me just say how utterly weak it is that Oracle has identified a DST 2007 issues with their database and provided barely any tools to help sniff around for it. What have they provided? A script to tell you if you have affected rows… A couple of other rag tag scripts here and there if you dig hard enough…. Pathetic.

If you’re just tackling the problem now, you’re up the proverbial creek (Mike R. has a good list of Metalink resources to get you started). But for those who have already completed the task, how did it go?  Is it a non-issue or an emergency? Any tips or tools that are essential?

Cheers, Tim