You can use -n as a server option (to name the server) or as a database option (to name the database).

The server and database names are among the connection parameters that client applications may use when connecting to a database. The server name appears on the desktop icon and in the title bar of the database server messages window.

Naming the server

Providing a database server name helps avoid conflicts with other server names on your network. It also provides a meaningful name for users of client applications. The server keeps its name for its lifetime (until it is shut down). If you don't provide a server name, the server is given the name of the first database started.

You can name the server by supplying a -n option before the first database file. For example, the following command starts a server on the sample database and gives the server the name Cambridge:

dbeng11 -n Cambridge samples-dir\demo.db

If you supply a server name, you can start a database server without starting a database. The following command starts a server named Galt with no database started:

dbeng11 -n Galt

The maximum length of the server name is 250 bytes.

For more information about starting databases on a running server, see Starting and stopping databases.

Naming databases

You may want to provide a meaningful database name for users of client applications. The database is identified by that name until it is stopped. The maximum length for database names is 250 bytes.

If you don't provide a database name, the default name is the root of the database file name (the file name without the .db extension). For example, in the following command the first database is named mydata, and the second is named mysales.

dbeng11 c:\mydata.db c:\sales\mysales.db

You can name databases by supplying a -n option following the database file. For example, the following command starts the sample database and names it MyDB:

dbeng11 samples-dir\demo.db -n MyDB

Case sensitivity

Server names and database names are case insensitive as long as the character set is single-byte. See Connection strings and character sets.