Specifying the Server Date, Time, and Keyboard Settings

Learn how to specify the Audit Vault Server date, time, and keyboard settings.

Super administrators can change the Audit Vault Server date, time, and keyboard settings. It is important to ensure that the date and time that you set for Audit Vault Server are correct. This is because events that the server generates are logged with the date and time at which they occur according to the server’s settings. In addition, archiving occurs at specified intervals based on the server’s time settings.

About Timestamps

Audit Vault Server stores all data in UTC. Timestamps are displayed as follows:

• If you are accessing data interactively, for example using the Oracle Database Security Central console or AVCLI command line, then all timestamps are in your time zone. In the UI, the time zone is derived from the browser time zone. If you are using AVCLI, then the time zone is derived from the “shell” time zone (usually set by the TZ environment variable).

• If you log in to Audit Vault Server as root or support, then timestamps are displayed in UTC, unless you change the TZ environment variable for that session.

• If you are looking at a PDF or XLS report that is generated by the system, then the timestamps displayed reflect the Time Zone Offset setting in the Audit Vault Server Manage link (see procedure below).

  WARNING: Do not change the Audit Vault Server database time zone through any configuration files. Doing so causes serious problems in Audit Vault Server.

Prerequisite

Log in to Oracle Database Security Central console as super administrator. See Using Oracle Database Security Central Console for more information.

Set the Server Date, Time, and Keyboard Settings

1. Select Settings.

2. Select System in the left navigation menu.

3. In the Configuration on the main page, Select System Settings.

4. Select Time & Keyboard in the System Settings dialog box.

5. From the Timezone Offset drop down list, select your local time in relation to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Timezone Offset is used in non-interactive scheduled PDF or XLS reports. The time set here is converted to local time and is displayed in Event Time field of the report.

   For example, -5:00 is five hours behind UTC. You must select the correct setting to ensure that the time is set accurately during synchronization.

   Note: To change the time only for the console and to the specific user session, follow the steps in Changing the Time Zone.

6. From the Keyboard drop down list, select the keyboard setting.

7. In the System Time field, select Set Manually or Use NTP.

   Selecting NTP synchronizes time with the average of the time recovered from the time servers specified in the NTP Server 1/2/3 fields.

8. Select Use NTP, and then select Synchronize Periodically to start using the NTP Server time.

   If you do not enable time synchronization in this step, then you can still enter NTP Server information in the steps below and enable NTP synchronization later.

9. Optionally select Synchronize Once After Save, to synchronize the time once when you select Save.

10. In the NTP Server 1, NTP Server 2, and NTP Server 3 sections enter the IP addresses or names of your preferred time servers.

    If you specify a name, then the DNS server that is specified in the Services dialog under System is used for name resolution.

11. Select Test Server to display the time from the server.

    Select Apply Server to update the Audit Vault Server time from this NTP server. The update will not take effect until you select Save.

12. Select Save.

    Note:

    • In case of high availability environment the steps above change the time only on the primary Audit Vault Server.

    • In case of NTP, specify the IP address of the default gateway and a DNS server to enable time synchronization.

Set the Time on Secondary Audit Vault Server

In case of high availability environment it is important that the primary and secondary Audit Vault Servers must have same time. Follow the steps below to manually set the time on the secondary Audit Vault Server.

1. Log in to the secondary Audit Vault Server as root user.

2. Run the following commands:

   systemctl stop monitor

   systemctl stop controller

   systemctl stop dbfwdb

   systemctl stop asmdb

3. Set the date and time by running the following command:

   date -s "Day Month DD HH:MM:SS UTC YYYY"

   For example:

   date -s "Fri Jun 02 07:51:17 UTC 2021"

4. Run the following commands:

   systemctl start asmdb

   systemctl start dbfwdb

   systemctl start controller

   systemctl start monitor

5. Verify the high availability status. It should be High Availability mode is enabled.

   See Also:

   • Updating the Audit Vault Server IP Address in the NTP Configuration File

   • Unable to Access the Oracle Database Security Central Console After Changing the AVS Time Manually or using NTP Server

   • Changing the Primary Audit Vault Server Network Configuration

   • Configuring or Changing the Audit Vault Server Services

   • Setting the Date and Time in Database Firewall