How do I change the time zone of my Amazon RDS DB instance?

Short description

All Amazon RDS DB instances use UTC/GMT time by default.

Although you can change the time zone to your local time, it's a best practice to use the UTC time zone at the database layer. Because UTC doesn't observe daylight savings (DST), you don't have to adjust the time when it shifts.

If you must use a local time zone, then convert the time zone at the application layer instead. Before you change your time zone, consult your database administrator or application team.

Resolution

To modify the time zone of an Amazon RDS DB instance, use one of the following methods based on your database engine.

Amazon RDS for Oracle

To modify the time zone, see Setting the database time zone. Your Oracle database engine version must be 11.2.0.2.v4 to change your time zone.

Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL

To modify the time zone for DB instances at the database level, set the value of the timezone parameter in the custom parameter group. The timezone parameter takes the input form of UTC-X or UTC+X. X is the number of hours that the time zone is offset from UTC time.

Important: If you reference UTC-5 compared to America/New_York, then RDS for PostgreSQL processes time zones differently. For example, the America/New_York time zone displays UTC-5. If you set the time zone as UTC-5, then it updates as UTC+5. For more information, see Date/time types on the PostgreSQL website.

Amazon RDS for MySQL

For a DB instance that runs RDS for MySQL version 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, or 8.0, set the time_zone parameter in the DB parameter group. All DB instances and read replicas that use the parameter group update to the new time zone. For RDS for MySQL versions that are earlier than 5.5, you can't change the time zone. By default, the time zone for RDS for MySQL DB instances is UTC. For more information, see Local time zone for MySQL DB instances.

Amazon Aurora

To modify the time zone for an Aurora DB cluster, see Local time zone for Amazon Aurora DB clusters.

Amazon RDS for MariaDB

To modify the time zone for a DB instance, set the time_zone parameter in the DB parameter group. All DB instances and read replicas that use the parameter group use the new time zone. By default, the time zone for RDS for MariaDB DB instances is UTC. For more information, see Local time zone for MariaDB DB instances.

Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server

To modify the time zone, create a new RDS for Microsoft SQL Server DB instance and specify the time zone. When you create the DB instance, expand the Additional configuration section, and then choose your preferred time zone from the Time zone menu. You can't modify the time zone after you create the instance. For more information, see Local time zone for Microsoft SQL Server DB instances.

Note: This feature is available only when you create an instance from the Standard create method.

Amazon RDS for Db2

To modify the time zone, create a new RDS for Db2 instance and specify the time zone. When you create the DB instance, expand the Additional configuration section, and then choose your preferred time zone from the Time zone menu. You can't modify the time zone after you create the instance. For more information, see Local time zone for Amazon RDS for Db2 DB instances.

Note: This feature is available only when you create an instance from the Standard create method.

Related information

Working with parameters on your RDS for PostgreSQL DB instance

Date and time data types and functions (Transact-SQL) on the Microsoft website