Handling of configuration and properties files is important because of the specific default encoding used on z/OS (EBCDIC), which is not compatible with UTF-8 usually used on other platforms.
The TDI Server can read configuration files in any encoding that is supported by the JVM; TDI Configuration files are read with the encoding specified in the header of the XML file. If no encoding is specified in the header of the configuration file, UTF-8 is used.
The TDI Server can write configuration files in any encoding that is supported by the JVM.
In all cases the encoding used for saving the XML configuration file is written in the header of the XML file.
This strategy for reading and writing configurations assumes that it is usually the UTF-8 encoding that is used on z/OS for configuration files. If however we want to use a different encoding (for example the system default so that the configuration file can be opened by a text editor like vi) then you are provided with a mechanism that can be used to create and use configuration files with an arbitrary encoding.
You should pay attention on the encoding used whenever you operate with text files on the z/OS system. For example when a file is read with the FileSystem Connector the Character Encoding parameter of the Parser used should specify the encoding of the file or should be left empty when the file uses the default EBCDIC encoding.
All *.properties files (that is, global.properties, Log4J.properties, and so on) in the installation directory and/or Solution Directory are read with the system default encoding. This makes it convenient for you to open and edit the properties files directly on the z/OS system.