setting timezone for MySQL using PHPMyAdmin

Question

Currently whenever a user creates a new account, I have a Creation_date column that has datatype timestamp. Currently this timestamp reads 3 hours ahead of EST (if it's 5PM in Boston it reads 8PM). Is there a way to change the timezone to EST? What timezone is it set to currently?

Answer 1

This has to do with MySQL's timezone.

You can set it per connection (e.g. via PHPMyAdmin) with the following:

SET time_zone = timezone;

However, this will reset if MySQL restarts. So it is better set at the server level. Which, I assume, you can't.

I encourage you to read more from the MySQL Docs.