Default Character Sets

The default character set is the one in which data is encoded and stored on the SAP ASE databases.

Change the Default Language and Character Set

Warning!  Make all changes to the character set and sort order for a new SAP ASE before creating any user databases or making any changes to the SAP-supplied databases. Changing the character set and sort order after data or data structures have been added to SAP ASE may require additional, time-consuming steps. To change the character set or sort order after you have added data, see the System Administration Guide: Volume 1.

After srvbuild configures a new SAP ASE, you are asked whether to localize your SAP ASE to a language other than us_english and whether to use a character set or sort order other than the default.

The default SAP ASE uses:
  • us_english language

  • iso_1 character set (on HP-UX platforms, use Roman8)

  • Binary sort order

Valid language options depend on the language modules that were unloaded from the distribution media onto your system.

By default, all character sets are copied from the distribution media.

You can:
  • Click No to accept the defaults.

  • Click Yes to change the defaults.

    You see sqlloc menu, which is the GUI utility used to change default languages, character sets, and sort orders.

By default, when SAP ASE and Backup Server are installed on IBM, and (Sun) Solaris systems, the installation installs the character set files for ISO 8859-1, which supports the Western European languages.

By default, when SAP ASE and Backup Server are installed on HP systems, the installation installs the character set files for Roman8, which supports the Western European languages.

Change the Default Character Set for Servers

You can select any character set as the default on SAP ASE, including character sets that are not the platform default character sets. Keep these guidelines in mind when selecting a new default character set:
  • To avoid conversion errors or overhead, determine the default character set based on the character set used by your clients.

    For example, if most of your clients use ISO 8859-1, you can minimize the amount of data conversion by specifying ISO 8859-1.

  • If your server is operating in a heterogeneous language environment, choose a character set that works with all the character sets needed. Often, this is Unicode (UTF-8).

Warning!  Make all changes to the default character set and sort order for a new SAP ASE before creating any user databases or making any changes to the SAP-supplied databases. Changing the character set and sort order after data or data structures have been added to SAP ASE can cause incorrect behavior. To change the character set or sort order after you have added data, see the System Administration Guide: Volume 1.