How Do I Change The Time Zone Of My Amazon RDS DB Instance?

August 4, 2022 . 2 MIN READ

Short Description

All Amazon RDS database instances use UTC/GMT as the default time zone. Changing the time zone is optional.

It is generally recommended to keep the database in UTC, as it does not observe daylight saving time (DST), eliminating the need for future adjustments.

If a local time zone is required, it’s better to handle the conversion at the application level. Before making any changes, consult your database administrator or application team.

Resolution

The process for changing the time zone in Amazon RDS depends on the database engine:

Oracle
You can modify the time zone for RDS Oracle instances by following the database time zone configuration steps. Note that Oracle version 11.2.0.2.v4 or later is required.
PostgreSQL
Set the time zone parameter in a custom parameter group. The format should be UTC+X or UTC-X, where X is the offset in hours.
Important: PostgreSQL handles named time zones (like America/New_York) differently from numeric offsets (like UTC-5). Using UTC-5 may result in unexpected behavior (e.g., converting to UTC+5).
MySQL
For MySQL versions 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, and 8.0, update the time_zone parameter in the DB parameter group. This change applies to all associated instances and read replicas.
Time zone changes are not supported for versions earlier than 5.5. The default remains UTC.
Amazon Aurora
Modify the time zone at the cluster level using the appropriate configuration settings.
MariaDB
Set the time_zone parameter in the DB parameter group. The update will apply to all related instances and replicas. The default time zone is UTC.
Microsoft SQL Server
The time zone must be selected during instance creation under Additional Configuration. It cannot be changed afterward.
Note: This option is only available when using the “Standard create” method.