---
title: Alter Default Data Pipeline Behavior
slug: -O52-alter-default
description: Data Administrators for an Ocient System can configure parameters using the `ALTER SYSTEM ALTER CONFIG` SQL command to adjust pipeline behavior. Key parameters include execution time, partition counts, and type inference. 
docTags: 
createdAt: Thu Apr 04 2024 12:43:16 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
updatedAt: Mon Mar 30 2026 18:52:40 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
---

An administrator might configure some parameters that control the behavior of data pipelines to modify the default behavior across the Ocient® System or specific nodes. You can use the `ALTER SYSTEM ALTER CONFIG` SQL statements to control the configuration parameters.

**Syntax**

```sql
ALTER SYSTEM ALTER CONFIG SET 'sql.pipelineparameters.parameter_name' 'parameter_value';
```

| **Parameter**     | **Data** **Type** | **Description**                                                                      |
| ----------------- | ----------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `parameter_name`  | string            | The name of the pipeline parameter, either general or specific to the BINARY format. |
| `parameter_value` | string            | The value for the pipeline parameter.                                                |

**General Parameters**

| **General Parameter Name**                                 | **Default** | **Data Type**    | **Required Value and Description**                                                                                  |
| ---------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.targetTimePerExtractorTask`        | 600         | `UINT64_T`<br /> | Target execution time in seconds for `run_extractor` tasks for file loads.                                          |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.defaultPartitionsPerExtractorTask` | -1          | `INT`            | Number of partitions per task.<br />If you set this parameter to -1, the number is based on available CPU cores.    |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.defaultExtractorCores`             | -1          | `INT`            | Number of cores to use in a task.<br />If you set this parameter to -1, the number is based on available CPU cores. |

**Binary Format Parameters**

You can modify these parameters to change the default behavior of the BINARY data format extraction.

| **Binary Format Parameter Name**                                | **Default** | **Data Type** | **Required Value and Description**                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
| --------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------- | ------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.extract.binary.defaultEndianness`       | `big`       | string        | The endianness of transforms when you do not specify it in another way.<br />Supported values are `big` or `little`.                                                                                                                  |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.extract.binary.defaultCharset`          | ibm1047     | string        | Determines the default character set to use when you load data in the `BINARY` format.                                                                                                                                                |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.extract.binary.defaultAutoTrimPadding`  | true        | Boolean       | Determines the default for whether a padding character should be trimmed when decoding data in the `BINARY` format to a string.                                                                                                       |
| `sql.pipelineparameters.extract.binary.defaultPaddingCharacter` | ' '         | `CHAR`        | Determines the default padding character to trim from the end of a string when decoding data in the `BINARY` format.<br />This parameter is effective only if the `extract.binary.defaultAutoTrimPadding` parameter is set to `true`. |

**Examples**

Set the target execution time for the extractor task to 600 seconds.

```sql
ALTER SYSTEM ALTER CONFIG SET 'sql.pipelineparameters.targetTimePerExtractorTask' 600;
```

Set the default endianness of transforms to little endian for the BINARY extract.

```sql
ALTER SYSTEM ALTER CONFIG SET 'sql.pipelineparameters.extract.binary.defaultEndianness' 'little';
```

:::hint{type="info"}
The configuration values only go into effect after the `ALTER` SQL statement succeeds and you restart the affected nodes.
:::

## Related Links

[Load Data](<./././Load Data.md>)

[Data Types for Data Pipelines](<./././Load Data/Data Types for Data Pipelines.md>)

[Data Formats for Data Pipelines](<./././Load Data/Data Formats for Data Pipelines.md>)

[Configuration Settings for Data Pipelines](<./Configuration Settings for Data Pipelines.md>)&#x20;
