For all tools that you use to connect to databases in Aster, you will typically want to set the default character set to UTF-8. This is particularly important if you plan to use special characters (for example, German letters ä and ß) in a char, varchar, or text column, and it is particularly important if you are connecting from a Windows-based machine.
For example, if you will use an SSH client (for example, putty) to run ACT or ncluster_loader, make sure you set the SSH client’s default character set to UTF-8.