Log time in background tasks

[p-vandenbos]

Hi,

We are working with webhooks/events rules.
When a event rule is being triggered a log is created under Admin, Background Tasks.
Problem is the log time used looks like GMT instead of UTC. We have configured Time Zone in configuration.py (Amsterdam which is UTC).
All other logs are fine in the change log for example but under background tasks it looks like it is using GMT (UTC-1). I have not found where to alter this behaviour. System time is also correct so I am not sure how to change this. We wil be using these logs a lot so we really need the correct times in the logs.

[candlerb]

GMT and UTC are the same, apart from minor technical differences.

Here in the UK we use GMT in winter and GMT+1 in summer (also known as BST). In the Netherlands you'll be using UTC+1/GMT+1 in winter and UTC+2/GMT+2 in summer.

Edit: Can you show some examples of the logs in question, and exactly where they occur? My guess is that these logs are showing in UTC, and not in local time (which in Amsterdam in winter is UTC+1)

Please also state what version of Netbox you're using.

[p-vandenbos]

Yes I meant we use UTC+1 and it is showing in UTC.
So the logs in Change Log are correct (UTC+1). The logs in Admin, Background Tasks are in UTC.
The system time is UTC+1 and the Timezone in the configuration is set to Europe/Amsterdam.

We use version 4.0.11

For example this is the output from the log in Background task. Started at 7:10:47 but should be 8:10:47

075368db-480a-48b9-84c6-ab6c83846ac5 2025-01-13 07:10:47 2025-01-13 07:10:47 2025-01-13 07:10:47 extras.webhooks.send_webhook
d197c223-ec69-41d3-9892-afb5879127e6 2025-01-13 07:10:47 2025-01-13 07:10:47 2025-01-13 07:10:47 extras.webhooks.send_webhook

[candlerb]

I have 4.1.11 here. I guess the page you're looking at is something like /core/background-queues/0/finished/, which would be class BackgroundTaskListView.

I don't know why that renders times in UTC for you, and unfortunately it's the wrong time of year for me to test here :-) Perhaps someone in a different time zone can try it.

It also looks like there was some reworking between 4.0 and 4.1, so possibly the problem will go away if you upgrade. (I've never seen a retrospective fix to any version of Netbox other than the most recent release, so you shouldn't expect to see a v4.0.12 even if the problem is diagnosed.)

commit d3a3a6ba46e6d6304090a45c73fd83c8e6134ad7
Author: Alexander Haase <[email protected]>
Date:   Tue Jul 30 19:31:21 2024 +0200

    15692: Introduce background jobs (#16927)

    * Introduce reusable BackgroundJob framework

    A new abstract class can be used to implement job function classes. It
    handles the necessary logic for starting and stopping jobs, including
    exception handling and rescheduling of recurring jobs.
...

[p-vandenbos]

ok thank you. We will do a upgrade in our dev environment. let me see if this changes anything.

[p-vandenbos]

Ok did a upgrade to 4.1.11
Unfortunately still UTC times in background tasks.
We use operation, event rules that triggers a webhook. Logging appears in Admin, Background tasks.
Any more thoughts?

[candlerb]

No - it's just something that needs digging into the Python code to debug. You say "All other logs are fine in the change log for example", so I suggest you compare them.

Using SQL queries, you can compare the timestamps in the changelog table and the event log table, and check that they are both either in UTC, or both in local time. If not, then the problem is with writing event log timestamps. If they are, then the problem is with rendering the timestamps in the UI.

If you don't have the in-house skills to look at the Python, then you can raise a bug issue, with a full set of steps to reproduce, and showing any debugging you've been able to do so far (such as looking at the SQL tables as I suggested). Even if you were able to fix the code, you would in any case need an accepted bug report before you could submit the patch.

Good luck!