Exp File from Oracle 8i and Imp into Oracle 10G

Question

Dear Friends
I have two servers one using oracle 8i and the other 10G. Firstly i have exported the file from oracle 8i using exp command. Im trying to import the file into 10G , Although this takes place successfully the character set conversion takes place please see the output below
Import: Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production on Sat Apr 30 13:00:41 2011
Copyright (c) 1982, 2005, Oracle.  All rights reserved.
Username: cane_bill
Password:
Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.1.0 - Production
Import file: EXPDAT.DMP > C:\cbbkp_mun_06042011.DMP
Enter insert buffer size (minimum is 8192) 30720>
Export file created by EXPORT:V08.01.07 via conventional path
import done in WE8MSWIN1252 character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR character set
import server uses WE8ISO8859P1 character set (possible charset conversion)
export client uses WE8ISO8859P1 character set (possible charset conversion)
export server uses WE8ISO8859P1 NCHAR character set (possible ncharset conversio
n)
List contents of import file only (yes/no): no >These are the NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS for *8i*
SQL> SELECT * FROM NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS;
PARAMETER                      VALUE
NLS_LANGUAGE                   AMERICAN
NLS_TERRITORY                  AMERICA
NLS_CURRENCY                   $
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY               AMERICA
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS         .,
NLS_CHARACTERSET               WE8ISO8859P1
NLS_CALENDAR                   GREGORIAN
NLS_DATE_FORMAT                DD-MON-RR
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE              AMERICAN
NLS_SORT                       BINARY
NLS_TIME_FORMAT                HH.MI.SSXFF AM
PARAMETER                      VALUE
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT           DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM
NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT             HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZH:TZM
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT        DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZH:TZM
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY              $
NLS_COMP                       BINARY
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET         WE8ISO8859P1
NLS_RDBMS_VERSION              8.1.7.0.0
18 rows selected.These are the NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS for *10G*
SQL> SELECT * FROM NLS_DATABASE_PARAMETERS;
PARAMETER                      VALUE
NLS_LANGUAGE                   AMERICAN
NLS_TERRITORY                  AMERICA
NLS_CURRENCY                   $
NLS_ISO_CURRENCY               AMERICA
NLS_NUMERIC_CHARACTERS         .,
NLS_CHARACTERSET               WE8ISO8859P1
NLS_CALENDAR                   GREGORIAN
NLS_DATE_FORMAT                DD-MON-RR
NLS_DATE_LANGUAGE              AMERICAN
NLS_SORT                       BINARY
NLS_TIME_FORMAT                HH.MI.SSXFF AM
PARAMETER                      VALUE
NLS_TIMESTAMP_FORMAT           DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM
NLS_TIME_TZ_FORMAT             HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR
NLS_TIMESTAMP_TZ_FORMAT        DD-MON-RR HH.MI.SSXFF AM TZR
NLS_DUAL_CURRENCY              $
NLS_COMP                       BINARY
NLS_LENGTH_SEMANTICS           BYTE
NLS_NCHAR_CONV_EXCP            FALSE
NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET         AL16UTF16
NLS_RDBMS_VERSION              10.2.0.1.0
I'm not able figure out why a conversion is taking place even though the same character set is used in 10G.
I would be greatful to you guys if can suggest a way to avoid this conversion as i fear data will be affected kindly need your suggestions for the same and thank you.
Regards
Parikshit

Answer 1

based on your nsl parameter settings, we can see that both databases use the same characterset. so, characterset conversion should not take place. the reason why you are facing these warnings is due to environment variables.
you should set NLS_LANG environment variables both before exporting and importing. Then warnings should disappear. For example, in your case you can set NLS_LANG=.WE8ISO8859P1 (please note that I have omitted language and territory parts here)
Try setting enviroment variables and then perform export and import again.