I need to export an Oracle database from one server and import it on another server. But I am getting the following information message at the beginning:

> 
> Connected to: Oracle Database 10g Release 10.2.0.4.0 - 64bit
>  Production Export done in US7ASCII character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR
>  character set server uses UTF8 character set (possible charset
>  conversion)
> 
> 
> 

Although the export still terminates successfully without warning, I was wondering whether the data in the database is still correct. Is there a need to set the `NLS_LANG` variable to match the character set of the server (in this case `UTF-8`)?

**If I set the NLS\_LANG variable to `UTF-8`** I don't get this information message. But the target server where I import the database again shows the following:

> 
> import done in UTF8 character set and AL16UTF16 NCHAR character set
>  import server uses AL32UTF8 character set (possible charset
>  conversion)
> 
> 
> 

If I understand that correctly these two servers use (slightly) different character sets - `UTF-8` and `AL32UTF8`. 

I am confused on what I should set the `NLS_LANG` variable or even whether it is necessary to set. Should I use `AL32UTF8` as `NLS_LANG` for the export and import?

**EDIT:** In case this information is important: I am using a SUSE Linux and for the export I use the command `exp` that comes with Oracle.