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.
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 |