Specifies a loaded database to which a connection needs to be made. Use when connecting to a database that is already running.
To connect to a database that is not already running, use the DatabaseFile (DBF) parameter.
When a database is started on a server, it is assigned a database name, either by the administrator using the -n option, or by the server using the base of the file name with the extension and path removed.
If the database you want to connect to is already running, specify the database name rather than the database file.
A connection occurs only if the name of the running database matches the name that is specified in the DatabaseName (DBN) parameter.
To start a database file named cities.db and rename the database Kitchener, you can use:
start_iq cities.db -n Kitchener
Assuming you have run the above command, you can successfully connect to the running database named Kitchener:
DBN=Kitchener
Alternatively:
DBN=Kitchener;DBF=cities.db
However, this fails to connect to the database named Kitchener:
DBF=cities.db