NetWorker: NVE To Include SLES Timezone Package 2026c

NetWorker Virtual Edition Appliance is deployed in one of the following regions/timezones:

• Alberta, Canada — Permanent UTC−06:00 (CST), effective 2026-06-18
• Morocco & Western Sahara — Permanent UTC+00:00, effective 2026-09-20
• Northwest Territories, Canada — Expected to follow Alberta (not yet official)

This change requires the tzdata-2026c SLES package. For more information, see: Time Zone Database Release 2026c 

The latest NVE OsRollup packaging includes 2026b-74.88:

nve:~ # avosrollup -V
Avamar Platform OS Security Rollup:
OS[SLES12.5] Version[2026-R1-v4] Installation Time[2026-08-19-11-16-05]
nve:~ # zypper search -s timezone
Loading repository data...
Reading installed packages...

S  | Name     | Type    | Version       | Arch   | Repository
---+----------+---------+---------------+--------+------------------
i+ | timezone | package | 2026b-74.88.1 | x86_64 | (System Packages)
v  | timezone | package | 2019b-74.26.1 | x86_64 | suse

Changes are required to the tzdata package to accommodate the new time zone changes.

Since the NVE is a Dell provided appliance it does not connect directly to any SLES repository. All OS changes are provided through the Dell provided OsRollup packages. Installing packages/software outside of the OsRollup model is considered unsupported.

The 2026 R2 OsRollup package (tentative October 2026) includes 2026c-74.92.1.

OsRollup packages are available through NetWorker product page of the Dell support site: Support for NetWorker | Drivers & Downloads
Instructions for applying OsRollups are provided through:  How to Install Platform Security Rollup for NetWorker Virtual Edition

Once the Rollup is applied and required time zones are available, the system's time zone can be adjusted using standard Linux timedatectl process:

1. Validate that the 2026c package is installed:
   

   zypper search -s timezone

2. Check Current Timezone
   

   timedatectl

3. List Available Timezones
   

   timedatectl list-timezones

To filter for a specific region:

timedatectl list-timezones | grep America
timedatectl list-timezones | grep Africa

4. Set the New Timezone
   

   sudo timedatectl set-timezone <timezone>

5. Examples relevant to tzdata-2026c:

# Alberta
sudo timedatectl set-timezone America/Edmonton

# Morocco
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Africa/Casablanca

# Western Sahara
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Africa/El_Aaiun

6. Verify the Change:
   

   timedatectl

7. Restart NetWorker services to reflect the new time change:
   

   # Restart NetWorker client/service core daemons
   sudo systemctl restart networker
   
   # Restart the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) server
   sudo systemctl restart gst
   
   # Restart the NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI) server
   sudo systemctl restart nwui

Workaround:

The following workaround may be used if this change is required before applying the OsRollup package:

1. Create a backup of the current zoneinfo:
   

   sudo cp -a /usr/share/zoneinfo /usr/share/zoneinfo.bak

2. Create a symbolic link to an equivalent existing Zone:
   Alberta -> Saskatchewan:
   

   sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Regina /etc/localtime

   Morocco -> UTC:

   sudo ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Etc/UTC /etc/localtime

3. Validate the change:
   

   timedatectl

4. Restart NetWorker services:
   

   # Restart NetWorker client/service core daemons
   sudo systemctl restart networker
   
   # Restart the NetWorker Management Console (NMC) server
   sudo systemctl restart gst
   
   # Restart the NetWorker Web User Interface (NWUI) server
   sudo systemctl restart nwui

To revert/rollback this change, go back to the zoneinfo copy created before completing the above steps:

# Get the correct timezone:
timedatectl list-timezones

# Revert to the original timezone:
sudo timedatectl set-timezone <timezone-name>

# Verify:
timedatectl
ls -l /etc/localtime

A NetWorker service restart would be required again.

There is currently no set date for the NetWorker VMware Protection (NVP) vProxy appliance that includes 2026c; however, the vProxy logs in standard UTC (unless manually changed). If required, the workaround mentioned above may be used on the NVP vProxy appliance until a vProxy release containing 2026c is available.