Oracle to MySql character set problem

Question

Dear Gurus,
My database is Oracle 11g R2 (11.2.0.1.0) on Sun Solaris 10. To get data from mysql database for reporting purpose, I used DG4ODBC and followed strictly the OMSC note "Detailed Overview of Connecting Oracle to MySQL Using DG4ODBC Database Link [ID 1320645.1]. Here are main configuration steps:
- Check DG4ODBC 32/64-bit
- Install and configure ODBC Driver Manager unixodbc-2.2.14
- Install and configure MyODBC 5.1.8
- Configure tnsnames.ora and listener.ora
- Create db links
Oracle character set is AL32UTF8
MySQL charactoer set is uft8
$ODBC_HOME/etc/odbc.ini
[ODBC Data Sources]
myodbc5 = MyODBC 5.1 Driver DSN
[myodbc5]
Driver = /opt/mysql/myodbc5/lib/libmyodbc5.so
Description = Connector/ODBC 5.1 Driver DSN
SERVER = <mysql server ip>
PORT = 3306
USER = <mysql_user>
PASSWORD = ****
DATABASE = <mysql db name>
OPTION = 0
TRACE = OFF
$ORACLE_HOME/hs/admin/initmyodbc5.ora
# HS init parameters
HS_FDS_CONNECT_INFO=myodbc5 # Data source name in odbc.ini
HS_FDS_TRACE_LEVEL=OFF
HS_FDS_SHAREABLE_NAME=/opt/unixodbc-2.2.14/lib/libodbc.so
HS_FDS_SUPPORT_STATISTICS=FALSE
HS_LANGUAGE=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1
# ODBC env variables
set ODBCINI=$ODBC_HOME/etc/odbc.ini
My issue is I can query data from mysql database tables but the output is incorrect in character type columns (VARCHAR columns). It just shows the first character in such columns. I tried to read through some OMSC notes but none is useful. If you experienced on such issues, please share your idea / help me resolve it.
Thanks much in advance,
Hieu

Answer 1

S. Wolicki, Oracle wrote:
I have little experience with MySQL and ODBC Gateway, but this setting looks weird to me: HS_LANGUAGE=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1. Why do you configure WE8ISO8859P1 when both databases are Unicode UTF-8. Shouldn't the setting be AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8 instead?
-- SergiuszIf I set HS_LANGUAGE=AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8 or without the HS_LANGUAGE setting, the following error will happen.
SQL> select count(*) from "nicenum_reserve"@ussd;
select count(*) from "nicenum_reserve"@ussd
ERROR at line 1:
ORA-28500: connection from ORACLE to a non-Oracle system returned this message:
I followed the metalink note "Error Ora-28500 and Sqlstate I Issuing Selects From a Unicode Oracle RDBMS With Dg4odbc To Mysql or SQL*Server [ID 756186.1]" to resolve the above error. The note guides to set HS_LANGUAGE=AMERICAN_AMERICA.WE8ISO8859P1 and resolved the above error.
The following are the output from original database (MySql) and Oracle via SQLPLUS and TOAD.
On MySQL database (Sorry because of the output format)
SQL> select ID, source_msisdn, target_msisdn, comment from nicenum_reserve where ID=91;
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ID | source_msisdn | target_msisdn | comment |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 91 | 841998444408 | 84996444188 | Close reservation becasue of swap activity |
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
SQLRowCount returns 1
1 rows fetched
Via Sqlplus on Oracle server:
SQL> select "ID","source_msisdn","target_msisdn","comment" from "nicenum_reserve"@ussd where "ID"=91;
ID
source_msisdn
target_msisdn
comment
91
8 4 1 9 9 8 4 4 4 4 0 8
8 4 9 9 6 4 4 4 1 8 8
C l o s e r e s e r v a t i o n b e c a s u e o f s w a p a c t i v i
t y
Via TOAD connected to Oracle server:
ID source_msisdn target_msisdn comment
91     8     8     C
It's likely this issue related to character set settings but I don't know how to set it properly.
Brgds,
Hieu