diff --git a/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml b/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
index cafb5ba6f2..9ae02bd26e 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/github_action_test_suite.yml
@@ -59,18 +59,19 @@ jobs:
           --health-interval 10s
           --health-timeout 5s
           --health-retries 5
+          --character-set-server-utf8mb4
+          --collation-server-utf8mb4_unicode_ci
         ports:
           - 3306:3306
 
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
 
-      - name: Reboot MySQL with custom options
-        if: ${{ matrix.TESTING_DB == 'mysql' }}
-        run: |
-          sudo cp ${{ github.workspace }}/.github/workflows/mysql_options.cnf /etc/mysql/conf.d/custom.cnf
-          sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /etc/mysql/conf.d/custom.cnf
-          sudo service mysql restart
+      # - name: Reboot MySQL with custom options
+      #   if: ${{ matrix.TESTING_DB == 'mysql' }}
+      #   run: |
+      #     sudo cp ${{ github.workspace }}/.github/workflows/mysql_options.cnf /etc/mysql/conf.d/custom.cnf
+      #     sudo chown -R mysql:mysql /etc/mysql/conf.d/custom.cnf
 
       # - name: Set up database (${{ matrix.TESTING_DB }})
       #   uses: ./.github/actions/setup-database