Beginning with ArcGIS 9.2, character data types in ArcSDE geodatabases are enabled for Unicode, which allows you to more easily work with multiple languages. See An overview of Unicode in the "Defining the properties of a geodatabase" section of the help for a definition of Unicode.
By default with ArcGIS 9.2 and later releases, character data is created with Unicode encoding in SQL Server and Oracle databases unless you set the DBTUNE parameter UNICODE_STRING to false under the DEFAULTS configuration keyword.
In Oracle databases, if you want to disable Unicode character encoding, you need to add the UNICODE_STRING parameter to the DBTUNE table. Use the sdedbtune –o insert command to add the UNICODE_STRING parameter to the DEFAULTS keyword.
To disable Unicode character encoding in SQL Server databases, use the sdedbtune –o alter command to change the value of the UNICODE_STRING parameter to FALSE.
For details on and syntax for the sdedbtune parameter, consult the ArcSDE Administration Command Reference provided with the ArcSDE component of ArcGIS Server Enterprise.
The UNICODE_STRING parameter is not used with DB2, Informix, or PostgreSQL databases. To enable Unicode character encoding in a new DB2, Informix, or PostgreSQL database, specify a code set of UTF-8 when the database is created. To enable Unicode character encoding in an existing DB2 or Informix database, you must alter the database collation using SQL. Consult your DB2 or Informix documentation for information on setting or changing the collation of a database. The encoding for a PostgreSQL database cannot be changed after it is created.
For more database-specific language information, see the following topics:
