Date format change

[bretth]

Not sure if it was the v12.1 upgrade (from 11) or that I went to a new physical server from a VM, but some of my date formats are dd/mm/yyyy and some are mm/dd/yyyy. For instance, the job listings show the next run time in dd/mm/yyy format, but if I click one of the jobs the statistics pane shows the start time as mm/dd/yyyy.

I was using the %date% variable for tape media names, and this changed from dd/mm/yyyy to mm/dd/yyyy. I changed it to %day% %month% %year% %time% as a workaround, but now it uses the full month name, eg instead of 27/4/2024 it lists it as 27 April 2024. The bigger issue though is the confusion, with different formats used in different places.

Anyone seen this? I've checked all the regional settings I can find on the server, and rebooted it after making changes.

Case # 07245737 raised.

[david.domask]

Hi bretth, welcome to the forums.

Thank you for sharing the case number; I'm not aware of any known issues that present like this so let's allow the Engineer a bit of time to review the logs and see what they come up with.

Veeam should follow just whatever is set for the format in the Region control panel item, so that's worth checking too, maybe it got changed there.

[bretth]

Thanks David. Still waiting on something more than the usual 'please send logs' first response.
When I first saw it I thought I'd just forgotten the regional settings, but the strange part is that some parts of the console use the regional settings, while others use the US format default. It really looks to me like the new 12.1 version uses different code in different places.

[bretth]

In case it helps someone, Support came through with the cause and fix.

Veeam formats dates in its various components using the regional settings of the accounts used to launch them. Manager.exe is always launched by the system account, so messages in the jobs and tasks sessions are written with the system account's locale settings. Shell.exe is launched by the current Windows user, so other parts of the UI use the user's locale settings. If the date formats are not the same for these two accounts you will see mixed date formats.

Easy fix - logon to the server with the system account and set the regional settings for that account.

[DatatoSecure]

Good day,

(I know it also depends on the local system`s date and time format.)

I would like to request that Veeam standardize the date format used across all platforms and websites, adopting YYYY-MM-DD (or Y-M-D) as the default. This format eliminates ambiguity and aligns with the ISO 8601 international standard.

Veeam currently uses inconsistent date formats across different platforms and websites, which can lead to confusion. For example, compare the date formats used on these two pages:
https://www.veeam.com/kb2680
https://www.veeam.com/products/download ... rsion.html

This inconsistency is especially problematic given that date format conventions vary by region. In Canada, for instance, some use DD/MM/YY while others use the American MM/DD/YY format.

Date format ambiguity isn't just a software inconvenience — it shows up in everyday life too. Reminds me, back in May 2009, while nursing a headache, I picked up a bottle of Aspirin at the pharmacy and glanced at the expiration date: 9/11. Between the ambiguous format and the date itself, it didn't do much for the headache.

This subject is also mentionned in other change requests such as viewtopic.php?f=59&t=78166&start=0 among others.


Regards,
François