Collation in SQL Server

SQL Server uses the collation setting to determine how non-Unicode character data is stored and how to sort and compare Unicode and non-Unicode.

To understand SQL Server collations, you need to start with the Windows OS. When you install a Windows OS. You install a version for the language you want to use, such as English, Greek or Russian. These various language versions require different character and different code pages to support the character sets and associated keyboard layout. A Windows locale is also set, based on the version of the Windows OS that you have installed. This Windows locale determines the setting for numbers currencies, times and dates on the server.   

Let the Microsoft SQL Server Installation Wizard determine the default Windows collation based on the Window locale of the Windows OS unless one of the following conditions exists:

·         The primary language supported by SQL Server  instance you are installing is different from the Windows locale of the computer on which you are installing SQL Server

·          The SQL Server instance you are installing will participate in a replication scheme with SQL Server instances supporting a different language.






Keywords: SQL Server 2005,SQL Server 2008 , SQL Server Collation,Collation in SQL Server