MySQL - how to store time with correct timezone? (from Java)

Question

I\'m using MySQL 5.0. I need to store date-time information in one column. I mean to use DATETIME or TIMESTAMP column type. But I have problem with

Answer 1

Your best bet, in my view, is to tell MySQL to use GMT and handle all local time issues in your application code, not your database. The values in the database would always be GMT, full stop, which is unambiguous. As you say, with daylight savings time (summer time) adjustments, you can end up with the same value in your database for what is, to us humans, two different times.

This also makes the database portable. If you move to North America and start using MySQL set to (say) Central time, all of a sudden the values in your database seem to have moved several hours. I had that issue with a database I inherited which was using the server's local time, when I moved it from the east coast of the U.S. to the west coast, not having thought to check whether MySQL was slaved to the machine's zone...