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

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

dbeng12 -n Cambridge samples-dir\demo.db

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

dbeng12 -n Galt

The maximum length of the database server name is 250 bytes.

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

dbeng12 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:

dbeng12 samples-dir\demo.db -n MyDB

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