Extended Log File Format Always in GMT

ID: Q194699

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Information Server version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

Internet Information Server (IIS) administrators cannot change the time format for the extended log file format to use a time zone other than Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

CAUSE

The extended log file format is defined in the W3C Working Draft WD- logfile-960323 specification by Phillip M. Hallam-Baker and Brian Behlendorf. This document defines the Date and Time files to always be in GMT:

Date
<date> = 4<digit> "-" 2<digit> "-" 2<digit> Dates are recorded in the format YYYY-MM-DD where YYYY, MM and DD stand for the numeric year, month and day respectively. All dates are specified in GMT. This format is chosen to assist collation using sort.

Time
<time> = 2<digit> ":" 2<digit> [":" 2<digit> ["." *<digit>]

Times are recorded in the form HH:MM, HH:MM:SS or HH:MM:SS.S where HH is the hour in 24 hour format, MM is minutes, and SS is seconds. All times are specified in GMT.

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information on the extended log file format, see the W3C Working Draft WD-logfile-960323 specification at the following URL:

http://www.w3.org/TR/WD-logfile

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q193612 : Log Files Rolled Over According to GMT, Not Local Time Zone

Keywords :
Version : WINNT:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbprb