Time zones in Azure SQL Managed Instance

Applies to: Azure SQL Managed Instance

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the recommended time zone for the data tier of newly developed cloud solutions, as it eliminates ambiguity. Azure SQL Managed Instance also offers a choice of time zones to meet the needs of existing applications that store date and time values and call date and time functions with an implicit context of a specific time zone.

T-SQL functions like GETDATE() or CLR code observe the time zone set on the instance level. SQL Server Agent jobs also follow schedules according to the time zone of the instance.

Note

Azure SQL Database does not support time zone settings; it always follows UTC. Use AT TIME ZONE in SQL Database if you need to interpret date and time information in a non-UTC time zone.

Important

When migrating your existing solutions to Azure SQL Managed Instance, consider carefully the timezone ramifications and as a rule of thumb match your original timezone settings unless you are reimplementing the relevant application logic.

Supported time zones

A set of supported time zones is inherited from the underlying operating system of the managed instance. It's regularly updated to get new time zone definitions and reflect changes to the existing ones.

Daylight saving time/time zone changes policy guarantees historical accuracy from 2010 forward.

A list with names of the supported time zones is exposed through the sys.time_zone_info system view.

Note

On August 8, 2022, the Chilean government made an official announcement about a Daylight-Saving Time (DST) time zone change. Starting at 12:00 a.m. Saturday, September 10, 2022, until 12:00 a.m. Saturday, April 1, 2023, the official time will advance 60 minutes. The change affects the following three time zones: Pacific SA Standard Time, Easter Island Standard Time and Magallanes Standard Time. Azure SQL Managed Instances using affected time zones will not reflect the changes until Microsoft releases an OS update to support this and Azure SQL Managed Instance service absorbs the update on the OS level. If you need to alter affected time zones for your managed instances, please be aware of the limitations and follow the guidance from the documentation.

Set a time zone

A time zone of a managed instance can be set during instance creation only. The default time zone is UTC.

Note

The time zone of an existing managed instance can't be changed.

Set the time zone through the Azure portal

When you enter parameters for a new instance, select a time zone from the list of supported time zones.

Setting a time zone during instance creation

Azure Resource Manager template

Specify the timezoneId property in your Resource Manager template to set the time zone during instance creation.

"properties": {
                "administratorLogin": "[parameters('user')]",
                "administratorLoginPassword": "[parameters('pwd')]",
                "subnetId": "[parameters('subnetId')]",
                "storageSizeInGB": 256,
                "vCores": 8,
                "licenseType": "LicenseIncluded",
                "hardwareFamily": "Gen5",
                "collation": "Serbian_Cyrillic_100_CS_AS",
                "timezoneId": "Central European Standard Time"
            },

A list of supported values for the timezoneId property is at the end of this article.

If not specified, the time zone is set to UTC.

Check the time zone of an instance

The CURRENT_TIMEZONE function returns a display name of the time zone of the instance.

Cross-feature considerations

Restore and import

You can restore a backup file or import data to a managed instance from an instance or a server with different time zone settings. Make sure to do so with caution. Analyze the application behavior and the results of the queries and reports, just like when you transfer data between two SQL Server instances with different time zone settings.

Point-in-time restore

When you perform a point-in-time restore, the time to restore to is interpreted as UTC time. This way any ambiguities due to daylight saving time and its potential changes are avoided.

Failover groups

Using the same time zone across a primary and secondary instance in a failover group isn't enforced, but we strongly recommend it.

Warning

We strongly recommend that you use the same time zone for the primary and secondary instance in a failover group. Because of certain rare use cases keeping the same time zone across primary and secondary instances isn't enforced. It's important to understand that in the case of manual or automatic failover, the secondary instance will retain its original time zone.

Limitations

  • The time zone of the existing managed instance can't be changed. As a workaround, create a new managed instance with the proper time zone and then either perform a manual backup and restore, or what we recommend, perform a cross-instance point-in-time restore.
  • External processes launched from the SQL Server Agent jobs don't observe the time zone of the instance.

List of supported time zones

Time zone ID Time zone display name
Dateline Standard Time (UTC-12:00) International Date Line West
UTC-11 (UTC-11:00) Coordinated Universal Time-11
Aleutian Standard Time (UTC-10:00) Aleutian Islands
Hawaiian Standard Time (UTC-10:00) Hawaii
Marquesas Standard Time (UTC-09:30) Marquesas Islands
Alaskan Standard Time (UTC-09:00) Alaska
UTC-09 (UTC-09:00) Coordinated Universal Time-09
Pacific Standard Time (Mexico) (UTC-08:00) Baja California
UTC-08 (UTC-08:00) Coordinated Universal Time-08
Pacific Standard Time (UTC-08:00) Pacific Time (US & Canada)
US Mountain Standard Time (UTC-07:00) Arizona
Mountain Standard Time (Mexico) (UTC-07:00) Chihuahua, La Paz, Mazatlan
Mountain Standard Time (UTC-07:00) Mountain Time (US & Canada)
Central America Standard Time (UTC-06:00) Central America
Central Standard Time (UTC-06:00) Central Time (US & Canada)
Easter Island Standard Time (UTC-06:00) Easter Island
Central Standard Time (Mexico) (UTC-06:00) Guadalajara, Mexico City, Monterrey
Canada Central Standard Time (UTC-06:00) Saskatchewan
SA Pacific Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Bogota, Lima, Quito, Rio Branco
Eastern Standard Time (Mexico) (UTC-05:00) Chetumal
Eastern Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Haiti Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Haiti
Cuba Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Havana
US Eastern Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Indiana (East)
Turks And Caicos Standard Time (UTC-05:00) Turks and Caicos
Paraguay Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Asuncion
Atlantic Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Atlantic Time (Canada)
Venezuela Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Caracas
Central Brazilian Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Cuiaba
SA Western Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Georgetown, La Paz, Manaus, San Juan
Pacific SA Standard Time (UTC-04:00) Santiago
Newfoundland Standard Time (UTC-03:30) Newfoundland
Tocantins Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Araguaina
E. South America Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Brasilia
SA Eastern Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Cayenne, Fortaleza
Argentina Standard Time (UTC-03:00) City of Buenos Aires
Greenland Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Greenland
Montevideo Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Montevideo
Magallanes Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Punta Arenas
Saint Pierre Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Saint Pierre and Miquelon
Bahia Standard Time (UTC-03:00) Salvador
UTC-02 (UTC-02:00) Coordinated Universal Time-02
Mid-Atlantic Standard Time (UTC-02:00) Mid-Atlantic - Old
Azores Standard Time (UTC-01:00) Azores
Cape Verde Standard Time (UTC-01:00) Cabo Verde Is.
UTC (UTC) Coordinated Universal Time
GMT Standard Time (UTC+00:00) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London
Greenwich Standard Time (UTC+00:00) Monrovia, Reykjavik
W. Europe Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Amsterdam, Berlin, Bern, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
Central Europe Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Belgrade, Bratislava, Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague
Romance Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid, Paris
Morocco Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Casablanca
Sao Tome Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Sao Tome
Central European Standard Time (UTC+01:00) Sarajevo, Skopje, Warsaw, Zagreb
W. Central Africa Standard Time (UTC+01:00) West Central Africa
Jordan Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Amman
GTB Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Athens, Bucharest
Middle East Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Beirut
Egypt Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Cairo
E. Europe Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Chisinau
Syria Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Damascus
West Bank Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Gaza, Hebron
South Africa Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Harare, Pretoria
FLE Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Helsinki, Kyiv, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius
Israel Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Jerusalem
Kaliningrad Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Kaliningrad
Sudan Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Khartoum
Libya Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Tripoli
Namibia Standard Time (UTC+02:00) Windhoek
Arabic Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Baghdad
Turkey Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Istanbul
Arab Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Kuwait, Riyadh
Belarus Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Minsk
Russian Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Moscow, St. Petersburg
E. Africa Standard Time (UTC+03:00) Nairobi
Iran Standard Time (UTC+03:30) Tehran
Arabian Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Abu Dhabi, Muscat
Astrakhan Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Astrakhan, Ulyanovsk
Azerbaijan Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Baku
Russia Time Zone 3 (UTC+04:00) Izhevsk, Samara
Mauritius Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Port Louis
Saratov Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Saratov
Georgian Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Tbilisi
Volgograd Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Volgograd
Caucasus Standard Time (UTC+04:00) Yerevan
Afghanistan Standard Time (UTC+04:30) Kabul
West Asia Standard Time (UTC+05:00) Ashgabat, Tashkent
Ekaterinburg Standard Time (UTC+05:00) Ekaterinburg
Pakistan Standard Time (UTC+05:00) Islamabad, Karachi
India Standard Time (UTC+05:30) Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi
Sri Lanka Standard Time (UTC+05:30) Sri Jayawardenepura
Nepal Standard Time (UTC+05:45) Kathmandu
Central Asia Standard Time (UTC+06:00) Nur-Sultan
Bangladesh Standard Time (UTC+06:00) Dhaka
Omsk Standard Time (UTC+06:00) Omsk
Myanmar Standard Time (UTC+06:30) Yangon (Rangoon)
SE Asia Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta
Altai Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Barnaul, Gorno-Altaysk
W. Mongolia Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Hovd
North Asia Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Krasnoyarsk
N. Central Asia Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Novosibirsk
Tomsk Standard Time (UTC+07:00) Tomsk
China Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Beijing, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Urumqi
North Asia East Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Irkutsk
Singapore Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Kuala Lumpur, Singapore
W. Australia Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Perth
Taipei Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Taipei
Ulaanbaatar Standard Time (UTC+08:00) Ulaanbaatar
Aus Central W. Standard Time (UTC+08:45) Eucla
Transbaikal Standard Time (UTC+09:00) Chita
Tokyo Standard Time (UTC+09:00) Osaka, Sapporo, Tokyo
North Korea Standard Time (UTC+09:00) Pyongyang
Korea Standard Time (UTC+09:00) Seoul
Yakutsk Standard Time (UTC+09:00) Yakutsk
Cen. Australia Standard Time (UTC+09:30) Adelaide
AUS Central Standard Time (UTC+09:30) Darwin
E. Australia Standard Time (UTC+10:00) Brisbane
AUS Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10:00) Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney
West Pacific Standard Time (UTC+10:00) Guam, Port Moresby
Tasmania Standard Time (UTC+10:00) Hobart
Vladivostok Standard Time (UTC+10:00) Vladivostok
Lord Howe Standard Time (UTC+10:30) Lord Howe Island
Bougainville Standard Time (UTC+11:00) Bougainville Island
Russia Time Zone 10 (UTC+11:00) Chokurdakh
Magadan Standard Time (UTC+11:00) Magadan
Norfolk Standard Time (UTC+11:00) Norfolk Island
Sakhalin Standard Time (UTC+11:00) Sakhalin
Central Pacific Standard Time (UTC+11:00) Solomon Is., New Caledonia
Russia Time Zone 11 (UTC+12:00) Anadyr, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky
New Zealand Standard Time (UTC+12:00) Auckland, Wellington
UTC+12 (UTC+12:00) Coordinated Universal Time+12
Fiji Standard Time (UTC+12:00) Fiji
Kamchatka Standard Time (UTC+12:00) Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky - Old
Chatham Islands Standard Time (UTC+12:45) Chatham Islands
UTC+13 (UTC+13:00) Coordinated Universal Time+13
Tonga Standard Time (UTC+13:00) Nuku'alofa
Samoa Standard Time (UTC+13:00) Samoa
Line Islands Standard Time (UTC+14:00) Kiritimati Island

See also