title: Set MySQL server variable collation_connection to utf8_unicode_ci on AWS RDS
body: <p>So my goal is to set all the character sets and collations to <code>utf8</code> and <code>utf8_unicode_ci</code>.</p>
  
  <p>Im using an AWS RDS to host the MySQL server.</p>
  
  <p>Ive set the <code>collation_connection variable</code> to <code>utf8_unicode_ci</code> in the Parameter group for the RDS.
  <a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uZ2Tt.png" rel="noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/uZ2Tt.png" alt="This is how I set the variable in the parameter group"></a>
  .</p>
  
  <p>Ive then rebooted my RDS and when going to MySQL console it shows the following values for variables.</p>
  
  <pre><code>mysql&gt; show variables like "%character%";show variables like "%collation%";
  +--------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
  | Variable_name            | Value                                     |
  +--------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
  | character_set_client     | utf8                                      |
  | character_set_connection | utf8                                      |
  | character_set_database   | utf8                                      |
  | character_set_filesystem | binary                                    |
  | character_set_results    | utf8                                      |
  | character_set_server     | utf8                                      |
  | character_set_system     | utf8                                      |
  | character_sets_dir       | /rdsdbbin/mysql-5.6.22.R1/share/charsets/ |
  +--------------------------+-------------------------------------------+
  8 rows in set (0.01 sec)
  
  +----------------------+-----------------+
  | Variable_name        | Value           |
  +----------------------+-----------------+
  | collation_connection | utf8_general_ci |
  | collation_database   | utf8_unicode_ci |
  | collation_server     | utf8_unicode_ci |
  +----------------------+-----------------+
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Im not sure why the <code>collation_connection</code> is set as <code>utf8_general_ci</code></p>