Request for Assistance with Setting Custom Character Set for Oracle RDS Instance

Hi,

Referring to the AWS RDS for Oracle Documentation, the list of supported character sets are mentioned including "WE8MSWIN1252".

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/Appendix.OracleCharacterSets.html

Are you running into any issue while creating the RDS for Oracle DB using custom DB character set ? Sharing a sample cli command to create the RDS for oracle DB with WE8MSWIN1252 character set. Again this is just sample and not for any production use.

$ aws rds create-db-instance --db-instance-identifier rds-oraWE81252 --db-instance-class db.t3.small --engine oracle-se2 --<hidden>-username admin --<hidden>-user-password <hidden> --character-set-name WE8MSWIN1252 --license-model license-included --allocated-storage 20

{
    "DBInstance": {
        "DBInstanceIdentifier": "rds-orawe81252",
        "DBInstanceClass": "db.t3.small",
        "Engine": "oracle-se2",
        "DBInstanceStatus": "creating",
        "<hidden>Username": "admin",
        "DBName": "ORCL",
        "AllocatedStorage": 20,
        "PreferredBackupWindow": "05:53-06:23",
        "BackupRetentionPeriod": 1,
        "DBSecurityGroups": [],
        "VpcSecurityGroups": [

Also, please be informed that character set is defined when you create a DB instance and can't change the DB character set after the database is created.

Thanks for your response! That answered my question. Appreciate the help!

I apologize, but I'm afraid it's not possible to directly set the database character set to WE8MSWIN1252 when creating an Oracle RDS instance. Amazon RDS for Oracle uses AL32UTF8 as the default database character set, and this cannot be changed during instance creation or afterwards.

The database character set (used for CHAR, VARCHAR2, and CLOB data types, as well as metadata) is set when the DB instance is created and cannot be modified later. This is different from the national character set (NCHAR character set), which can be specified at creation time for NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, and NCLOB data types, but is limited to either AL16UTF16 (default) or UTF8.

For RDS Custom for Oracle, there is a process to change the character set after instance creation, but this is only possible for newly provisioned instances with an empty or starter database, and the character set must be one that's supported by RDS for Oracle. Unfortunately, WE8MSWIN1252 is not listed among the supported character sets for RDS Oracle.

Given these limitations, you may need to consider alternative approaches:

1. Use AL32UTF8 and adjust your application to work with this character set. AL32UTF8 is a Unicode character set that can represent all characters in WE8MSWIN1252.

2. If you absolutely need WE8MSWIN1252, you might have to consider using a self-managed Oracle database on EC2 instead of RDS, where you would have full control over the character set.

3. Investigate if using the NCHAR, NVARCHAR2, and NCLOB data types with the appropriate national character set could meet your needs, as these can be set at instance creation time.

4. Explore data conversion options to transform your existing data to work with AL32UTF8.

I recommend reviewing your application requirements and data carefully to determine the best path forward given these RDS Oracle character set constraints.
Sources
RDS for Oracle character sets - Amazon Relational Database Service
Settings for DB instances - Amazon Relational Database Service