If the collation and time zone of an RDS SQL Server instance do not align with your business logic, or if your application handles data across multiple time zones, change the instance's collation and time zone to ensure that data is converted and displayed correctly.
Background
-
The default character set collation for an instance is Chinese_PRC_CI_AS.
-
The default time zone for an instance is China Standard Time.
-
System databases include
master,msdb,tempdb, andmodel.
-
For available character set collations and time zones, refer to the console.
-
To modify the character set collation of a user-created database, run the
ALTER DATABASE <user-created_database_name> COLLATE <character_set_collation>command.
Usage limits
-
You cannot change the time zone for shared instances.
-
You cannot change the system character set collation or time zone for Serverless instances.
Modify character set and collation
-
Before modifying the system character set collation, ensure the instance has no user-created (non-system) databases. If the instance has user-created databases, you cannot modify the character set and collation in the console.
-
If you delete a database from the instance, the deletion task might still be pending on the standby instance. To prevent conflicts, ensure no databases exist on the primary and standby instances before you modify the system character set collation.
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the instance ID.
-
In the left-side navigation pane, click Databases.
-
On the Databases page, click Modify Character Set and Collation.
-
In the dialog box, set the Character Set Collation Rule parameter and click OK.
ImportantModifying the system character set collation restarts the instance. This process takes 2 to 10 minutes, during which the instance is unavailable.
-
View the updated system character set collation on the Basic Information page.
Modify the time zone
Log on to the ApsaraDB RDS console and go to the Instances page. In the top navigation bar, select the region in which the RDS instance resides. Then, find the RDS instance and click the instance ID.
-
In the navigation pane on the left, click Databases.
-
On the Databases page, click Modify Time Zone.
-
In the dialog box, set the Time Zone and click OK. For more information, see Time Zone and UTC Offset Table.
ImportantChanging the time zone restarts the instance. This causes a downtime of up to 1 minute for High-availability Edition and Cluster Edition instances, and about 5 minutes for Basic Edition instances.
-
In the dialog box, click OK again.
-
You can view the updated time zone on the instance's Basic Information page.
The field is labeled System Time Zone.
Time zone and UTC offset
In some countries, clocks are set forward one hour to begin daylight saving time and back one hour to return to standard time. Daylight saving time (DST) advances local time by one hour from standard time during a specific period of the year, primarily to save energy. The start and end dates for this period vary by country and region.
|
Time zone |
Standard time offset |
Daylight saving |
Remarks |
|
Afghanistan Standard Time |
(UTC+04:30) |
None |
Kabul |
|
Alaskan Standard Time |
(UTC-09:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Alaska |
|
Arabian Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Abu Dhabi, Muscat |
|
Atlantic Standard Time |
(UTC-04:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Atlantic Time (Canada) |
|
AUS Central Standard Time |
(UTC+09:30) |
None |
Darwin |
|
AUS Eastern Standard Time |
(UTC+10:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney |
|
Belarus Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Minsk |
|
Canada Central Standard Time |
(UTC-06:00) |
None |
Saskatchewan |
|
Cape Verde Standard Time |
(UTC-01:00) |
None |
Cabo Verde |
|
Central Australia Standard Time |
(UTC+09:30) |
None |
Adelaide |
|
Central America Standard Time |
(UTC-06:00) |
None |
Central America |
|
Central Asia Standard Time |
(UTC+06:00) |
None |
Astana |
|
Central Brazilian Standard Time |
(UTC-04:00) |
None |
Cuiaba |
|
Central Europe Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
None |
Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague |
|
Central European Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Sarajevo, Skopje, Warsaw, Zagreb |
|
Central Pacific Standard Time |
(UTC+11:00) |
None |
Solomon Islands, New Caledonia |
|
Central Standard Time |
(UTC-06:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Central Time (US and Canada) |
|
Central Standard Time (Mexico) |
(UTC-06:00) |
None |
Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey |
|
China Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi |
|
East Africa Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Nairobi |
|
East Australia Standard Time |
(UTC+10:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Brisbane |
|
East Europe Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Chisinau |
|
East South America Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
None |
Brasilia |
|
Eastern Standard Time |
(UTC-05:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Eastern Time (US and Canada) |
|
Georgian Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Tbilisi |
|
GMT Standard Time |
(UTC+00:00) |
None |
Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London |
|
Greenland Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Greenland |
|
Greenwich Standard Time |
(UTC+00:00) |
None |
Monrovia, Reykjavik |
|
GTB Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Athens, Bucharest |
|
Hawaiian Standard Time |
(UTC-10:00) |
None |
Hawaii |
|
India Standard Time |
(UTC+05:30) |
None |
Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi |
|
Jordan Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
None |
Amman |
|
Korea Standard Time |
(UTC+09:00) |
None |
Seoul |
|
Middle East Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
None |
Beirut |
|
Mountain Standard Time |
(UTC-07:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Mountain Time (US and Canada) |
|
Mountain Standard Time (Mexico) |
(UTC-07:00) |
None |
Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan |
|
US Mountain Standard Time |
(UTC-07:00) |
None |
Arizona |
|
New Zealand Standard Time |
(UTC+12:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Auckland, Wellington |
|
Newfoundland Standard Time |
(UTC-03:30) |
DST+1 hour |
Newfoundland |
|
Pacific South America Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
None |
Santiago |
|
Pacific Standard Time |
(UTC-08:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Pacific Time (US and Canada) |
|
Pacific Standard Time (Mexico) |
(UTC-08:00) |
None |
Baja California |
|
Russian Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd |
|
South America Pacific Standard Time |
(UTC-05:00) |
None |
Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco |
|
Southeast Asia Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
None |
Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta |
|
Singapore Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Kuala Lumpur, Singapore |
|
Tokyo Standard Time |
(UTC+09:00) |
None |
Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo |
|
US Eastern Standard Time |
(UTC-05:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Indiana (East) |
|
UTC |
(UTC+00:00) |
None |
Coordinated Universal Time |
|
UTC-02 |
(UTC-02:00) |
None |
|
|
UTC-08 |
(UTC-08:00) |
None |
|
|
UTC-09 |
(UTC-09:00) |
None |
|
|
UTC-11 |
(UTC-11:00) |
None |
|
|
UTC+12 |
(UTC+12:00) |
None |
|
|
West Australia Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Perth |
|
West Central Africa Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
None |
West Central Africa |
|
West Europe Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna |
|
Dateline Standard Time |
(UTC-12:00) |
None |
International Date Line West |
|
Aleutian Standard Time |
(UTC-10:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Aleutian Islands |
|
Marquesas Standard Time |
(UTC-09:30) |
None |
Marquesas Islands |
|
Easter Island Standard Time |
(UTC-06:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Easter Island |
|
Eastern Standard Time (Mexico) |
(UTC-05:00) |
None |
Chetumal |
|
Haiti Standard Time |
(UTC-05:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Haiti |
|
Turks and Caicos Standard Time |
(UTC-05:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Turks and Caicos |
|
Paraguay Standard Time |
(UTC-04:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Asuncion |
|
Venezuela Standard Time |
(UTC-04:00) |
None |
Caracas |
|
South America Western Standard Time |
(UTC-04:00) |
None |
Georgetown, La Paz, Manaus, San Juan |
|
Tocantins Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Araguaina |
|
South America Eastern Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
None |
Cayenne, Fortaleza |
|
Argentina Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
None |
Buenos Aires |
|
Montevideo Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
None |
Montevideo |
|
Magallanes Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Punta Arenas |
|
Saint Pierre Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Saint Pierre and Miquelon |
|
Bahia Standard Time |
(UTC-03:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Salvador |
|
Mid-Atlantic Standard Time |
(UTC-02:00) |
None |
Mid-Atlantic |
|
Azores Standard Time |
(UTC-01:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Azores |
|
Romance Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris |
|
Morocco Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Casablanca |
|
Sao Tome Standard Time |
(UTC+01:00) |
None |
Sao Tome |
|
Egypt Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Cairo |
|
West Bank Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Gaza, Hebron |
|
South Africa Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
None |
Harare, Pretoria |
|
FLE Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius |
|
Israel Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Jerusalem |
|
Kaliningrad Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
None |
Kaliningrad |
|
Sudan Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
None |
Khartoum |
|
Libya Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Tripoli |
|
Namibia Standard Time |
(UTC+02:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Windhoek |
|
Arabic Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Baghdad |
|
Turkey Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Istanbul |
|
Arab Standard Time |
(UTC+03:00) |
None |
Kuwait, Riyadh |
|
Astrakhan Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Astrakhan, Ulyanovsk |
|
Azerbaijan Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Baku |
|
Mauritius Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Port Louis |
|
Saratov Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Saratov |
|
Georgian Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Tbilisi |
|
Volgograd Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Volgograd |
|
Caucasus Standard Time |
(UTC+04:00) |
None |
Yerevan |
|
West Asia Standard Time |
(UTC+05:00) |
None |
Ashgabat, Tashkent |
|
Ekaterinburg Standard Time |
(UTC+05:00) |
None |
Ekaterinburg |
|
Pakistan Standard Time |
(UTC+05:00) |
None |
Islamabad, Karachi |
|
Sri Lanka Standard Time |
(UTC+05:30) |
None |
Sri Jayawardenepura |
|
Nepal Standard Time |
(UTC+05:45) |
None |
Kathmandu |
|
Bangladesh Standard Time |
(UTC+06:00) |
None |
Dhaka |
|
Omsk Standard Time |
(UTC+06:00) |
None |
Omsk |
|
Myanmar Standard Time |
(UTC+06:30) |
None |
Yangon (Rangoon) |
|
Altai Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
None |
Barnaul, Gorno-Altaysk |
|
West Mongolia Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Hovd |
|
North Asia Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
None |
Krasnoyarsk |
|
North Central Asia Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
None |
Novosibirsk |
|
Tomsk Standard Time |
(UTC+07:00) |
None |
Tomsk |
|
North Asia East Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Irkutsk |
|
Singapore Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Kuala Lumpur, Singapore |
|
Taipei Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Taipei |
|
Ulaanbaatar Standard Time |
(UTC+08:00) |
None |
Ulaanbaatar |
|
Australian Central Western Standard Time |
(UTC+08:45) |
None |
Eucla |
|
Transbaikal Standard Time |
(UTC+09:00) |
None |
Chita |
|
Yakutsk Standard Time |
(UTC+09:00) |
None |
Yakutsk |
|
West Pacific Standard Time |
(UTC+10:00) |
None |
Guam, Port Moresby |
|
Tasmania Standard Time |
(UTC+10:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Hobart |
|
Vladivostok Standard Time |
(UTC+10:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Vladivostok |
|
Lord Howe Standard Time |
(UTC+10:30) |
DST+1 hour |
Lord Howe Island |
|
Bougainville Standard Time |
(UTC+11:00) |
None |
Bougainville Island |
|
Magadan Standard Time |
(UTC+11:00) |
None |
Magadan |
|
Norfolk Standard Time |
(UTC+11:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Norfolk Island |
|
Sakhalin Standard Time |
(UTC+11:00) |
None |
Sakhalin |
|
Fiji Standard Time |
(UTC+12:00) |
None |
Fiji |
|
Kamchatka Standard Time |
(UTC+12:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky |
|
Chatham Islands Standard Time |
(UTC+12:45) |
DST+1 hour |
Chatham Islands |
|
UTC+13 |
(UTC+13:00) |
None |
|
|
Tonga Standard Time |
(UTC+13:00) |
None |
Nuku'alofa |
|
Samoa Standard Time |
(UTC+13:00) |
DST+1 hour |
Samoa |
|
Line Islands Standard Time |
(UTC+14:00) |
None |
Kiritimati Island |
Related documents
Use the API to query or modify the system collation and time zone.