Understanding Daylight Savings Time (DST) and Scheduled Tasks on GG Host

Understanding Daylight Savings Time (DST) and Scheduled Tasks on GG Host

Overview:

Some of our customers may notice a shift in their scheduled task times during Daylight Savings Time (DST) changes. This article explains why this happens, how GG Host manages timezones, and what steps you can take to ensure your tasks run at the correct time during DST changes.

What is Daylight Savings Time (DST)?

DST is a seasonal adjustment where clocks are set forward or back by one hour. Many regions around the world adjust their clocks for DST, typically to make better use of daylight during the evening hours. However, the exact timing and dates of these changes vary by region.

How GG Host Handles Scheduled Task Times

• All tasks on GG Host servers are saved and executed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC/GMT), which remains constant throughout the year and is not affected by DST.
• If you’ve configured the Game Panel to display times in your local timezone, those times will be adjusted automatically to reflect your current offset from UTC/GMT, taking DST into account.
• This means that when your region switches to or from DST, you may notice a one-hour shift in the display time for scheduled tasks. However, the underlying task time in UTC/GMT does not change.

Example

If a task is set to run daily at 10:00 AM UTC/GMT:

• In a region observing DST, this task will appear as 11:00 AM local time during standard time and 12:00 PM local time during DST.
• The task itself still runs at 10:00 AM UTC/GMT regardless of the season; only the display time shifts.

What If I Want My Tasks to Follow DST?

If you want your tasks to follow your local time changes with DST (e.g., always at 11:00 AM local time), you’ll need to adjust them manually in the Game Panel each time DST starts or ends. Here’s how:

1. Log in to your Game Panel.
2. Navigate to the Scheduled Tasks section for your game server.
3. Edit the task times to match your desired local time, considering the current offset for DST.
4. Save the changes to ensure the tasks now align with your local time after the DST shift.

Tip: To avoid confusion, you may want to set a reminder to adjust your task times when your region’s DST starts or ends.

Why Use UTC/GMT?

Using UTC/GMT helps GG Host maintain a consistent and reliable schedule across all servers and regions, regardless of local time changes. This means your scheduled tasks will always run exactly when you expect them to — no surprises due to Daylight Saving Time shifts.

For example, imagine a customer in Iceland (which does not observe DST) rents a game server from us that's physically located in Germany (which does observe DST).
If we used local German time on that server, a task scheduled for 13:00 could suddenly run at 14:00 after DST begins — causing confusion and unexpected server behavior for the Icelandic customer.

By using UTC/GMT, both the customer and the server stay in sync, and scheduled tasks remain stable year-round — no matter where you or the server are located.

This approach avoids timezone headaches and ensures your game servers run smoothly for players worldwide.

Summary:

• All GG Host server tasks are scheduled in UTC/GMT.
• Displayed times in the Game Panel adjust automatically based on your local timezone and DST changes.
• If you want tasks to run at the same local time throughout the year, you’ll need to adjust them manually when DST starts or ends.

By understanding how GG Host handles timezones and DST, you can keep your scheduled tasks running smoothly, no matter where you are in the world.