Вот еще чуток информации:
shell> mysqladmin variables -p | egrep "cha|coll"
character_set_client           | utf8                                                   сharacter_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             | /usr/local/share/mysql/charsets/                        
collation_connection           | utf8_general_ci                                          
collation_database             | utf8_general_ci

mysql> SHOW COLLATION;
+----------------------+----------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| Collation            | Charset  | Id  | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
+----------------------+----------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| dec8_swedish_ci      | dec8     |   3 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| dec8_bin             | dec8     |  69 |         |          |       0 |
| cp850_general_ci     | cp850    |   4 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp850_bin            | cp850    |  80 |         |          |       0 |
| hp8_english_ci       | hp8      |   6 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| hp8_bin              | hp8      |  72 |         |          |       0 |
| koi8r_general_ci     | koi8r    |   7 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| koi8r_bin            | koi8r    |  74 |         |          |       0 |
| latin1_german1_ci    | latin1   |   5 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_swedish_ci    | latin1   |   8 | Yes     | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_danish_ci     | latin1   |  15 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_german2_ci    | latin1   |  31 |         | Yes      |       2 |
| latin1_bin           | latin1   |  47 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_general_ci    | latin1   |  48 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_general_cs    | latin1   |  49 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin1_spanish_ci    | latin1   |  94 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| latin2_general_ci    | latin2   |   9 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| latin2_hungarian_ci  | latin2   |  21 |         |          |       0 |
| latin2_croatian_ci   | latin2   |  27 |         |          |       0 |
| latin2_bin           | latin2   |  77 |         |          |       0 |
| swe7_swedish_ci      | swe7     |  10 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| swe7_bin             | swe7     |  82 |         |          |       0 |
| ascii_general_ci     | ascii    |  11 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| ascii_bin            | ascii    |  65 |         |          |       0 |
| hebrew_general_ci    | hebrew   |  16 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| hebrew_bin           | hebrew   |  71 |         |          |       0 |
| koi8u_general_ci     | koi8u    |  22 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| koi8u_bin            | koi8u    |  75 |         |          |       0 |
| greek_general_ci     | greek    |  25 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| greek_bin            | greek    |  70 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1250_general_ci    | cp1250   |  26 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp1250_croatian_ci   | cp1250   |  44 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1250_bin           | cp1250   |  66 |         |          |       0 |
| latin5_turkish_ci    | latin5   |  30 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| latin5_bin           | latin5   |  78 |         |          |       0 |
| armscii8_general_ci  | armscii8 |  32 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| armscii8_bin         | armscii8 |  64 |         |          |       0 |
| utf8_general_ci      | utf8     |  33 | Yes     | Yes      |       1 |
| utf8_bin             | utf8     |  83 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| utf8_unicode_ci      | utf8     | 192 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_icelandic_ci    | utf8     | 193 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_latvian_ci      | utf8     | 194 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_romanian_ci     | utf8     | 195 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_slovenian_ci    | utf8     | 196 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_polish_ci       | utf8     | 197 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_estonian_ci     | utf8     | 198 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_spanish_ci      | utf8     | 199 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_swedish_ci      | utf8     | 200 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_turkish_ci      | utf8     | 201 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_czech_ci        | utf8     | 202 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_danish_ci       | utf8     | 203 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_lithuanian_ci   | utf8     | 204 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_slovak_ci       | utf8     | 205 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_spanish2_ci     | utf8     | 206 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_roman_ci        | utf8     | 207 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_persian_ci      | utf8     | 208 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_esperanto_ci    | utf8     | 209 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_hungarian_ci    | utf8     | 210 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| cp866_general_ci     | cp866    |  36 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp866_bin            | cp866    |  68 |         |          |       0 |
| keybcs2_general_ci   | keybcs2  |  37 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| keybcs2_bin          | keybcs2  |  73 |         |          |       0 |
| macce_general_ci     | macce    |  38 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| macce_bin            | macce    |  43 |         |          |       0 |
| macroman_general_ci  | macroman |  39 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| macroman_bin         | macroman |  53 |         |          |       0 |
| cp852_general_ci     | cp852    |  40 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp852_bin            | cp852    |  81 |         |          |       0 |
| latin7_estonian_cs   | latin7   |  20 |         |          |       0 |
| latin7_general_ci    | latin7   |  41 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| latin7_general_cs    | latin7   |  42 |         |          |       0 |
| latin7_bin           | latin7   |  79 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1251_bulgarian_ci  | cp1251   |  14 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1251_ukrainian_ci  | cp1251   |  23 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1251_bin           | cp1251   |  50 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1251_general_ci    | cp1251   |  51 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp1251_general_cs    | cp1251   |  52 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1256_general_ci    | cp1256   |  57 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| cp1256_bin           | cp1256   |  67 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1257_lithuanian_ci | cp1257   |  29 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1257_bin           | cp1257   |  58 |         |          |       0 |
| cp1257_general_ci    | cp1257   |  59 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| binary               | binary   |  63 | Yes     | Yes      |       1 |
| geostd8_general_ci   | geostd8  |  92 | Yes     |          |       0 |
| geostd8_bin          | geostd8  |  93 |         |          |       0 |
+----------------------+----------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
85 rows in set (0.00 sec)