Database Collation Importance

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Database Collation Importance; HIGHLY TECHNICAL HELP NEEDED!
Topic Started: Mar 19 2009, 12:56 PM (309 Views)
JohnC	Mar 19 2009, 12:56 PM Post #1
Member Posts: 18 Group: Members Member #1,376 Joined: April 24, 2007	I know this is likely to be a highly technical issue, but I sure hope someone can provide a detailed explanation for me. How important is the specified collation for a database, specifically a Lawson database? When our 8.0.x environment was installed for us back in 2004 (by Lawson, I might add), they also installed SQL-Server 2000 as part of that install. However, the installer did not specify a default collation to be used for SQL-Server. As a result, SQL-Server was installed with a default collation of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. This also resulted in our LOGAN and application product line database (named PROD1) being set up to use this same default collation. Now fast forward to 2009. I recently completed an LSF9 installation on my new application and database servers. However, I did not install SQL-Server on my database servers, my DBAs did. Unfortunately they were not aware that, according to the LSF9 installation documents, we should be using a default collation of Latin1_General_BIN. So, SQL-Server was again installed using the default collation of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_C1_AS. When I did my LSF9 install, I specified a collation of Latin1_General_BIN for the GEN and LOGAN databases as dictated by my documentation. The DBAs then simply restored a backup of my PROD1 database onto the new database server. So, here is where I’m at. I have SQL-Server, along with my PROD1 application database, using a collation of SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_C1_AS while only my LOGAN and GEN databases are using a collation of Latin1_General_BIN. I’m now running into issues with interfaces that migrate data into and out of my various databases because of differences in collation. Granted, I’m pretty good with SQL and can code around these problems, but it sure would be a lot simpler if all my databases were using the same collation from the get-go. So back to my question: How important is the specified collation for a database, specifically a Lawson database? Can I rebuild by LOGAN and GEN databases so that they use the same collation the rest of the server is using? Changing the collation on my PROD1 database is not an option simply due to the size of the database and the length of time that would be needed. I know how to change a database collation; that is not the concern I have. What I really need to know is why Lawson has specified a collation of Latin1_General_BIN? Is there a specific reason behind it or can I use another collation on my GEN and LOGAN databases with no adverse effects? Thanks in advance for any help someone can provide.


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