Machine states durations grouped by time in SQL best options

[Zach_Larson]

That is a great question.
Here is the answer as best that I understand it.

The datetime type was not set datetime2 from the start on the gateway.
The gateway is setup EST.
The table for states has timestamps in UTC.

I don't know if we can change the datetime type to datetime2 now.
I think it will break things.

I don't know enough about setting the datetime type to datetime2 to know for sure that I understand this.

I know that when I checked to see what the datetime type was set to currently, I think it was set to datetime. I think it has been that way a long time. I don't know how many things switching to datetime2 would impact.

I think this applied to me:

@pturmel

Of course, if your transaction groups are storing into tables whose t_stamp columns are discarding timezone information, you may be screwed.

Or this one:

@pturmel

Yes, it can be a big deal for a system in production. It is best to get the column types correct up front. (For a corporation that has facilities spanning multiple time zones, the plain MS SQL Server datetime column type is a terrible design choice. Your client's DB admins should be chastized.)

I think one way or another, I am kind of stuck.
I don't know for sure if nothing will break.

I do know that the Gateway has been running a long time without the datetime type being switched to datetime2.
I don't fully understand the implications of the change.

Maybe you can help me understand it more and if I am stuck or if it is a simple change. I think it sounds like the change would break things.

Am I stuck?