If you are planning on installing Configuration Manager 2012 then before you do you need to be sure that your SQL collation is set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.

You can store any language data in any collation.  All the collation does is tell the SQL Server  which order it should sort the values.  For example the Latin1_General_CI_AS collation sorts the characters of the Latin language set (the English language plus a few extra characters  that the Roman’s used) in the order of the Latin alphabet.  The sort order is case insensitive (CI) and accent sensitive (AS).

If you live in the US then that’s probably what it is set to already but if not, and if you are using regional settings that may change the default collation (for example Swedish) then you will need to reinstall SQL from scratch to change the SQL collation or  try some unsupported hacks to resolve your collation issues. If you are wondering why then it’s because ConfigMgr setup will not let you continue without the correct Collation. Full. Stop.

What Collation does Configuration Manager 2012 require ?

Configuration Manager 2012 requires SQL collation set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS. Yup that’s it. And here’s where it states that on Technet. Expand the SQL Server Requirements section and look at the Collation field. And I quote: “The instance of SQL Server in use at each site must use the following collation: SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS.”

How can I verify what SQL Collation I have currently ?

If you have already install SQL and want to verify the collation settings prior to running ConfigMgr setup, then you can start SQL Server Management Studio and look at the Server Collation section of the General page as in this screenshot by right clicking on the database server and choosing properties.

How can I set the collation while installing SQL Server ?

If you are installing SQL server and want to set the collation manually, you can do so on the Server Configuration screen as pictured below, simply click on the collation tab.

after clicking on the collation tab you get to see the currently set Collation, if it’s not what you expected and if it’s not SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS then you must click on Customize to change it

Recommended Reading:

Clarification on SQL Server collation requirements for System Center 2012 – http://blogs.technet.com/b/servicemanager/archive/2012/05/24/clarification-on-sql-server-collation-requirements-for-system-center-2012.aspx

ok that’s it !

until next time

cheers

niall.