Best way to set database connection collation in rails?

Rails
1

Hello, I want to change the connection collation that rails uses but I’m
unsure of exactly what the best way to do this is. Everything in MySQL

the server, database and all tables are set to utf8_unicode_ci
collation,
but the connection collation in rails still appears to be
utf8_general_ci
(the default?). We are using the mysql2 adapter.

I’ve seen a couple of possible methods:
Set the collation to utf8_unicode_ci via an init-connect line in the
database server’s my.cnf
Set the ActiveRecord ConnectionAdapter to use the desired collation.

Is there a best approach?

Alternately, how much does it matter if the connection collation doesn’t
match set in the database server?

Thanks,

~ Alex