Preparing to install on a Unicode database

The following information is provided:

Before you begin

If you are installing BMC Remedy AR System for the first time and you want to use Unicode, ensure that your database is configured to use Unicode.

To prepare your host computer for a Unicode BMC Remedy AR System installation or upgrade

• (For Linux) Set the LANG environment variable for the locale you want to use:
  
  • Ensure that you have installed the UTF-8 locales in which you plan to run BMC Remedy AR System programs.
  • Ensure that you use the correct spelling and capitalization for your particular system. To find the locales that correspond to the language you want to use, use the locale -a command. Refer to your UNIX system documentation for information about locale settings.
  • To set the locale of the installation, the server installation script uses the locale of the shell from where it is run. 
  • During installation, the BMC Remedy AR System installer sets up the arsystem script with the correct values for the LANG variable. The arsystem script launches armonitor, which launches the programs mentioned in the armonitor.conf file; each of these programs inherits the environment variables established in the arsystem script.

• (For Windows)If you are installing an Oracle Unicode BMC Remedy AR System on a Microsoft Windows operating system, set the value of the NLS_LANG in environment variables.

   Click here to expand the procedure to update environment variables

  1. Go to Start > My Computer/Computer.
  2. Right-click anywhere on the My Computer window, and click Properties > Advanced system settings > Environment variables.
  3. Under System variables, click New and enter the values for the following variables:
     • Variable name (NLS_LANG)
     • Variable value (<LANGUAGE>_<TERRITORY>.<NLS_CHARACTERSET>)  
  4. Reboot the machine after creating the environment variable.

  
  Oracle defines the NLS_LANG value as LANGUAGE_TERRITORY.CHARACTERSET, for example, AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8.
  The CHARACTERSET value AL32UTF8 tells the Oracle client library to send and receive character data as UTF-8. (Do not use the CHARACTERSET value UTF8, which is obsolete.) 

  1. Verify that the NLS_LANG environment variable is set correctly.

  2. Set the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS=BYTE initialization parameter on the Oracle database instance.
     Although the BMC Remedy AR System server enables you to request that character fields be measured in characters, the server still communicates with the database in bytes.
     For more information, see Oracle Metalink Note 144808.1, "Examples and limits of BYTE and CHAR semantics usage."

     Warning

     BMC Remedy AR System does not support the CHAR setting. If your database administrator changes the NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS value from BYTE to CHAR when reconfiguring NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS , the data in the AR System server gets corrupted. The NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS parameter must be set to BYTE in NLS_INSTANCE_PARAMETERS when the Oracle database server is started.

To upgrade a server with a Unicode database

1. Back up the database components, objects, forms, and data.
2. (On Windows systems) Run the installer in the same locale in which you ran the original BMC Remedy AR System Server.
   For example, if the original server ran in a Japanese locale, run the upgrade installer in the same Japanese locale.
   
   (On Linux systems) Run the installer in the Unicode version of the locale in which you ran the original  BMC Remedy AR System Server.
   For example, if the server ran in the ja_JP.eucJP locale, run the installer in the ja_JP.UTF-8 locale. Locale names vary across UNIX variants and versions.

Related topic

Unicode requirements