Correlating Screenshots and Server Logs Across Timezones | Generated by AI

Home 2025.10 English 中文 日本語 Español हिंदी Français Deutsch العربية 繁體中文

---

Got it 👍 – you want to correlate screenshots (from testers uploading into Confluence) with UAT server logs (generated by Java + log4j/slf4j), and the tricky part is the multiple timezones and timestamps.

Let’s break this down carefully:

---

1. What timestamps do you have?

From the screenshot (Windows):

• The clock visible inside the screenshot taskbar = client machine’s local time (system time, in their timezone).
• The file metadata (if you still have it outside Confluence) may show Created / Modified timestamps = also in that client’s timezone.

From Confluence:

• Upload timestamp = when the attachment hit the Confluence server.
• Usually stored/displayed in server time or converted to Confluence user’s profile timezone.
  (You can check your Confluence profile → Settings → Timezone to confirm what you see.)

From UAT logs (log4j/slf4j):

• Timestamps are generated by the Java process JVM timezone (commonly set by server OS default, unless overridden).
• Format is determined by your log pattern (e.g. yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss,SSS [thread] ...). Typically this is JVM local time, not UTC, unless explicitly configured.

---

2. Why things won’t line up directly

• Screenshot shows tester’s local laptop time.
• Confluence stores upload time in server/DB timezone.
• Logs show Java server’s timezone.
  These three are not guaranteed to be the same.

---

3. Method to reconcile

Here’s how to consistently compare a tester’s screenshot with server logs:

1. Pick a common time standard – usually UTC
   • Convert all relevant timestamps to UTC (Excel, scripting, or by hand).
   • This avoids confusion across timezones.
2. Check JVM / log timezone
   • Confirm in UAT server: java -Duser.timezone or check a known log entry vs date in Linux.
   • If logs are not UTC, note offset.
3. Check Confluence server/Profile timezone
   • Verify whether the upload timestamp you see is already adjusted for your profile timezone.
   • Adjust back to raw UTC.
4. Align with screenshot clock
   • If screenshot shows 2024-02-10 13:45 and you know tester was in Asia/Kolkata (UTC+5:30), then that equals 2024-02-10 08:15 UTC.
   • If logs show an event at 2024-02-10 08:15:23 UTC, you can match them.

---

4. Process Workflow (recommended)

• Step 1: Ask testers (or enforce in UAT instructions) to include their timezone/location when uploading screenshots, or even better, request them to set system clock correctly.
• Step 2: When checking logs, first convert screenshot timestamp (tester’s local clock) → UTC.
• Step 3: Convert log timestamp → UTC (by applying JVM’s timezone).
• Step 4: Compare.

---

5. Example Mapping

• Screenshot: shows 2024-06-01 14:05 (tester in Berlin, UTC+2).
  → UTC = 2024-06-01 12:05.

• Confluence shows upload = 2024-06-01 12:07 UTC.
  (makes sense – uploaded within ~2 minutes).

• UAT log:

  2024-06-01 12:05:20,456 INFO UAT-Service [thread-19] ...
  

  JVM timezone = UTC.
  → Perfect match.

---

✅ Key Point: You must normalize all timestamps into the same timezone (usually UTC). Windows screenshots show local time. Java logs use JVM timezone. Confluence shows upload time in server or user-profile timezone. Without that normalization, you’ll never align them.

---

Would you like me to draft a mini playbook for your UAT team, so testers know what to capture (like “always note your timezone when uploading screenshots”) so correlation with logs is easier?

---

Back

openai/gpt-5

Donate