Database server names and database names

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

Client applications can use connection parameters that specify the database server name and database name when connecting to a database. The database server name appears on the desktop icon and in the title bar of the database server messages window.

You cannot create a database or start a database server with the name utility_db because this name is reserved for the utility database.

Naming the database server

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:

dbsrv16 -n Cambridge "%SQLANYSAMP16%\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:

dbsrv16 -n Galt

Database server names must be valid identifiers. Long database server names are truncated to different lengths depending on the protocol. Database server names cannot:

begin with white space, single quotes, or double quotes
end with white space
contain semicolons, forward slashes (/), or backslashes (\)
be longer than 250 bytes
contain spaces when they are running on Unix

Note

On Windows and Unix, version 9.0.2 and earlier clients cannot connect to version 10.0.0 and later database servers with names longer than the following lengths:

40 bytes for Windows shared memory
31 bytes for Unix shared memory
40 bytes for TCP/IP

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.

dbsrv16 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:

dbsrv16 "%SQLANYSAMP16%\demo.db" -n MyDB