Microsoft SQL Server expects double-byte ntext datatype values to be sent to the server in little-endian byte order, which is the native byte order of the Windows platform. By default, the byte order of ntext data is converted to the little-endian byte order during replication to meet this Microsoft SQL Server expectation. However, if your target database does not expect Unicode values to be sent in little-endian byte order, you can force the Unicode byte order sent during replication by setting the lr_ntext_byte_order property to big (for big-endian) or little (for little-endian) to meet the expectation of your standby database.
The default behavior of Mirror Replication Agent for
Microsoft SQL Server is to force any Unicode data to big-endian
order as defined by the ltl_big_endian_unitext configuration
property. To allow the lr_ntext_byte_order configuration
property to successfully override the Microsoft SQL Server byte order,
you must also set ltl_big_endian_unitext configuration
property to false whenever the lr_ntext_byte_order property
is used.
The ltl_big_endian_unitext parameter specifies whether unitext data should be converted from little-endian to big-endian before sending LTL to Replication Server. Valid values are true and false. When setting this parameter, you must know how the lr_ntext_byte_order parameter is set. If the lr_ntext_byte_order parameter is set to send the correct byte order for the standby database, the ltl_big_endian_unitext parameter must be set to false so that the byte order is not changed.
The ltl_big_endian_unitext and lr_ntext_byte_order configuration properties have important differences. The ltl_big_endian_unitext property is false by default. When the ltl_big_endian_unitext property is true, Mirror Replication Agent for Microsoft SQL Server ensures all Unicode data is sent in big-endian order. When the ltl_big_endian_unitext property is false, Mirror Replication Agent for Microsoft SQL Server allows Unicode data to be sent in whatever byte order is used when the data is stored in the transaction log file. The lr_ntext_byte_order property forces the result of Unicode data read from the transaction log to be in the requested byte order, regardless of how it normally exists in the transaction log file.
