Unicode System - Effects on SAP Server

Unicode influences the following factors:
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- Load of applications on hardware (CPU & RAM)
- Seehttp://service.sap.com/unicode
- Seehttp://service.sap.com/performance
- Result: about +30% to +35% CPU and +50% RAM
- Size of database
- See http://service.sap.com/unicode
- The result depends on the usage of UTF-8 (+36%) or UTF-16 (+60% to 70%).

Performance of the database
- Ask the database vendor for the performance results of databases
using Unicode.

Unicode systems use between 1 and 5 bytes of space to store single characters, based on the character and its Unicode representation. As a result, in a simple estimate, the resources of the system could be doubled to be prepared for worst-case scenario.

In reality, the load on the CPU caused by the applications, in this case, the SAP software, increased by about 30-35%. The load on the RAM, again caused by application software and not database software, increased by about 50%.

The size of the database of Unicode systems, compared to non-Unicode systems, depends largely on the type of Unicode representation chosen. UTF-16 (+60% to 70%) requires more space than UTF-8 (+36%).

The performance of the database system is also affected. For performance of data
on the database systems under Unicode, contact your database manufacturer.