Knowledge Base

How to change default charset from “utf8_unicode_ci” to “utf8mb4_unicode_ci” in MySQL in Plesk for Linux?

How to change MySQL servers default charset from "utf8_unicode_ci" to "utf8mb4_unicode_ci"?

This feature is not yet implemented in Plesk.

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By default, Plesk databases are created with the following command:

CREATE DATABASE databasename /*!40101 default charset=utf8 */

As a workaround, apply the following solution:

Create an event which will change the charset upon creation of a new database

Connect to a Plesk server via SSH.
Create the file /root/dbscript.sh with the following content:

#!/bin/sh

db=${NEW_DATABASE_NAME}

plesk db "ALTER DATABASE $db CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci"
Set the correct permissions:

# chmod 0775 /root/dbscript.sh
In Plesk, go to Tools & Settings > Event Manager and click Add Event Handler.
Choose the event type to be Database created, put the following in the command section and press OK:

/root/dbscript.sh