Web Hosting Talk : Other Forums : Web Hosting Lounge : # of MySQL databases?

[Triexa]

I never noticed it until now, but some hosts offer different amounts of MySQL databases... my question is, why?

Why exactly would you need more than one MySQL database? Unless I am completely wrong, I don't see an advantage of having 10 databases over 1 database?

[Phrozen]

It's easier to have a separate database for each script... especially when it comes time to back it up.

[Triexa]

see... now that is ALL i could think of... but couldn't you just prefix the script tables if they require multiple databases? Most, if not all scripts do this anyways...

[Phrozen]

Yes you can, and many scripts even do that for you. But having hundreds and hundreds of tables in a single database can just be a pain, to me anyway. I prefer to keep things nice, neat, and organized. It's all just personal preference I suppose.

[Triexa]

So then, is that what you would say multiple databases are for.. organizational purposes?

[Andrew]

Actually, being a host, with a large number of dedicated servers at my disposal, I find that I'm LESS organized if I don't limit myself to a certain number of mysql databases on an account. If I don't, I end up with like 50 databases all that do nothing, but are too important for some silly reason, to delete...ahh I'm such a pack rat..can't even get rid of a mysql database!

[Triexa]

lol...
well is there any HARM in having additional mysql databases? Why would hosts limit you?

[Knogle]

For security, maybe? Supposing one of your clients has an account, and he sets up a subdomain for his friend together with a database. Assuming they're on cPanel, would your client want to give his friend access to his private database? I doubt so.

[Andrew]

Speaking for my company, we limit them as a guideline to help curb excess resource usage.

[Alex042]

Some control panels such as Cpanel offer autoinstall on some scripts which automatically creates a new database for each script. It seems like a waste of databases especially if the host puts tight restrictions on number of databases, but some clients may have a difficult time installing these scripts manually into a single database. Also, some scripts may have the same table name as others and therefore basically incompatible to run on the same database. Hosts tend to limit the number of databases because each additional database is additional resources.

[MGCJerry]

I'm running PHPNuke, and an oscommerce clone on the same database, but it doesnt seem that the oscommerce clone doesnt have a "prefix". The most I've ever had on my site was 5. However, I have a ton of them on my localhost development server. I use a different database when I'm working with a script in case it does something unexpected.

Just my $0.02

[godthemod]

I use different databases because I dabble in PHP programming with mySQL, and god knows I don't want to be the one to corrupt my database doing something dumb. My forum users would probably lynch me.