# Will changing time-zone of the server have side effects?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [18.Февраль.2016 08:06:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786 "2016-02-18T08:06:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@ljpp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ljpp)
#### Post date: [18.Февраль.2016 08:06:42 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/1 "2016-02-18T08:06:42Z")
I just realised my Digital Ocean VPS is using an American time-zone, EEST or something that is quite impractical for me. Will there be side effects if I change the server time-zone to UTC or local?
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [29.Февраль.2016 20:58:10 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/2 "2016-02-29T20:58:10Z")
Not sure, I guess @mpalmer is the best person to ask.
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### Author:  [@mpalmer](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mpalmer)
#### Post date: [29.Февраль.2016 22:05:13 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/3 "2016-02-29T22:05:13Z")
There are a bunch of things that will be affected if you change the timezone. Whether any of them are show-stoppers for you is something only you can decide.
- The timezone of all timestamps in logs, etc will change, and if you’re doing any work that crosses the boundary you’ll need to account for that.
- Not everything will pick up the timezone change immediately, so you’ll be best to reboot the machine when you change, to make sure nothing’s running around with an out-of-date timezone definition.
- Discourse’s database should be fine (we store everything in UTC) however sidekiq and anything else that uses timing might get a bit confused for a little while (see above re: rebooting). Same goes for anywhere that times might get passed around without timezones attached (naughty naughty, but it does happen). Once again, REBOOT.
Probably a bunch of other things will change as well, so after you do it, you can come back here and report. 😀
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### Author:  [@ljpp](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ljpp)
#### Post date: [01.Март.2016 11:44:55 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/4 "2016-03-01T11:44:55Z")
Ok, that sounds scary. Luckily the UX front seems doesn’t seem to have complications, even though the server TZ is somewhere on the East Coast. (This is not a sane default btw, using Digital Ocean’s Frankfurt premises).
Two additional questions:
- How is daylight saving handled? That is due soon and happens at a different date in the US vs my home country.
- Ubuntu 16.04 is near, and I’ll likely upgrade next summer. What is the source and target servers are on different zones when I backup and restore?
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [24.Декабрь.2018 18:51:24 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/5 "2018-12-24T18:51:24Z")
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### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [26.Декабрь.2018 08:36:35 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/will-changing-time-zone-of-the-server-have-side-effects/39786/6 "2018-12-26T08:36:35Z")