Issue
Clarify the differences between I/A Series R2 time zone settings such as CST vs CST6CDT or PST vs PST8PDT, and how they compare to America/City time zone entries.
Product Line
TAC IA SeriesEnvironment
I/A Series R2 UNCs and Enterprise Servers
Cause
Time zones in I/A Series R2 can be specified in multiple formats:
- Abbreviations (e.g., CST, PST)
- Abbreviation with daylight savings offset (e.g., CST6CDT, PST8PDT)
- Region-based identifiers (e.g., America/New_York, America/Chicago)
These variations exist because of different ways to represent location and daylight savings rules.
Resolution
All three formats represent the same time zone and daylight savings schedule for U.S. regions:
| Region | Abbreviation | Abbreviation + DST | America/City Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Time | EST | EST5EDT | America/New_York |
| Central Time | CST | CST6CDT | America/Chicago |
| Mountain Time | MST | MST7MDT | America/Denver |
| Pacific Time | PST | PST8PDT | America/Los_Angeles |
Daylight Savings:
- Starts: 2:00 AM, second Sunday in March
- Ends: 2:00 AM, first Sunday in November
For areas without daylight savings or with unique rules:
- Use America/City (e.g., America/Phoenix for Arizona, America/Indianapolis for parts of Indiana).
- For fixed offsets without daylight savings, select Etc/GMT±xx (e.g., Etc/GMT-5 for UTC-5).
