How Do I Change the Time Zone of an RDS DB Instance?

You can set the time zone only on the RDS console. Different DB engines have different time zone policies.

• RDS for MySQL, RDS for MariaDB, and RDS for PostgreSQL allow you to select a time zone when you create a DB instance and change the time zone after the instance is created.
• RDS for SQL Server allows you to select a time zone when you create a DB instance but you cannot change the time zone after the instance is created.

• If the time zone of your RDS for MySQL instance is different from that of the region where your workloads are deployed, or if the DST and standard time are switching in your country, you need to adjust the time zone of the instance.
• After the time zone parameter is modified, you need to reconnect to the instance for the modification to take effect.

To change the time zone for an RDS for MySQL, RDS for MariaDB, or RDS for PostgreSQL DB instance, perform the following steps:

1. Log in to the management console.
2. Click in the upper left corner and select a region.
3. Click in the upper left corner of the page and choose Databases > Relational Database Service.
4. On the Instances page, click the target DB instance.
5. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Parameters.
6. Search for a time zone parameter in the search box, for example, time_zone.
   • The time zone parameter for RDS for MySQL is time_zone.
   • The time zone parameter for RDS for MariaDB is time_zone.
   • The time zone parameter for RDS for PostgreSQL is timezone.

7. Select a time zone, and click Save.
8. In the displayed dialog box, click OK.

   For example, to change the time zone to UTC+08:00, select Asia/Shanghai from the drop-down list.