Oracle Database 10g Documentation Library

DB_NAME

Property	Description
Parameter type	String
Syntax	`DB_NAME =` `database_name`
Default value	There is no default value.
Modifiable	No
Basic	Yes
Real Application Clusters	You must set this parameter for every instance. Multiple instances must have the same value, or the same value must be specified in the `STARTUP OPEN` SQL*Plus command or the `ALTER DATABASE MOUNT` SQL statement.

DB_NAME specifies a database identifier of up to 8 characters. This parameter must be specified and must correspond to the name specified in the CREATE DATABASE statement.

If you have multiple databases, the value of this parameter should match the Oracle instance identifier of each one to avoid confusion with other databases running on the system. The value of DB_NAME should be the same in both the standby and production initialization parameter files.

The database name specified in either the STARTUP command or the ALTER DATABASE ... MOUNT statement for each instance of the cluster database must correspond to the DB_NAME initialization parameter setting.

The following characters are valid in a database name: alphanumeric characters, underscore (_), number sign (#), and dollar sign ($). No other characters are valid. Oracle removes double quotation marks before processing the database name. Therefore you cannot use double quotation marks to embed other characters in the name. The database name is case insensitive.