# Oracle Database Setup

This article focuses on specific technical decisions that need to be made when setting up an Oracle database for CopyStorm. If you need more general Oracle help then grab a DBA — Oracle shops always have them.

## Use an Oracle Character Set Compatible with Salesforce

In short, use AL32UTF8. Salesforce uses the full extended UTF-8 character set (up to 4 bytes per character) and an equivalent character set should be used in Oracle. Do not use UTF8 even though your backup will almost always work since, despite its name, the Oracle UTF8 set is not a full implementation of the UTF8 standard.

## Enable Oracle EXTENDED Characters

By default CopyStorm will use VARCHAR2 columns until the declaration of a column exceeds 4000 bytes. After 4000 bytes CopyStorm will use a CLOB column type. If you have a version of Oracle that supports the *max\_string\_size=EXTENDE* D property, extending VARCHAR2 lengths to 32767 bytes, you should consider forcing CopyStorm to use this feature. Unfortunately, since automatically detecting EXTENDED support cannot be done by a regular Oracle user but requires nearly the same permissions as SYSTEM, CopyStorm must be configured to use the feature by following the directions in this article:

* [How to Enabled Oracle’s EXTENDED Options for VARCHAR2 Columns](/reference/configuration-files/how-to-enable-oracle-extended-varchar2-option.md)

## The 30 Character Name Limit Is Not a Problem

CopyStorm automatically detects the maximum length for names at run-time and will use 30 or 128 long names depending on what your Oracle version supports. In all cases the mappings between Salesforce table and field names are kept in tables in the CopyStorm created database. See this article for the details.

* [Where Does CopyStorm Keep Salesforce Metadata?](/frequently-asked-questions/how-does-copystorm-work/where-does-copystorm-keep-salesforce-metadata.md)


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