How many MySQL databases do you think I need?

[FredT]

Hi,

I am learning PHP and MySQL this summer but I am pretty clueless about them right now. I'm picking out a host for a site that I just created (and a host many more sites to come if I find a really good one).

I was just wondering how many MySQL databases do you think I should have?... especially if I'm going to host multiple sites under the same account.

I know its kind of an odd question because you probably have no idea how many I will need personally... but on average what do you think? What kinds of things require databases? I know forums do. Shopping carts? What else?

I know I will need one to organize my customer's info for the "Log In" part of my web design site. I am hoping to also set up a couple databases for customers to update the "events" and "news" areas of their own sites themselves. I am planning on creating a few small forums and potentially a few shopping carts. So I know roughly how many databases I will need, I'm just asking you guys so that I know I'm not leaving out any important details that I will regret later, seeing as how I really don't know what I'm doing with this stuff.

Any kind of a guideline or suggestion would be great.

Thanks!

[sobeit]

there is no way to answer that since you said you are going to host muliple sites under the same account. Just say you will need one for each feature you have within each site. You can always get more databases as needed from most hosting services.

When you find a host, be sure to read their terms of use for multiple sites from one account. Some dont allow it.

[FredT]

Ya, I guess that was dumb question. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't leaving something our or over/underestimating based on some fact that I didn't know. I will try and figure out how many I need based on one-per-feature.

Thanks

[snowman7000]

It sounds like you are pretty early in the development phase, I would recommend developing the project a little further before locking yourself into a specific host provider. Developing on your own machine or if you have a old box installing the software to run it on that and when you have more ideas of your requirements look into a provider. This will also insure you have at least an entire complete copy of your site, you might even consider version control or periodic snapshots of the project. A lot of site pricing varies widely on what features you will need, and if development gets behind (easy thing to do since most programmers are optimistic on time things will take, or other things come up in personal projects) you could wind up paying for services you dont need yet, or worse find that the plan you have is not feasible for your site

PS: make sure to find all the polices for the site on what the max usage of cpu, bandwidth, hard-drive space, databases, db-connections/queries per hour, and programming languages/scripting allowed for whatever plan you choose, some will turn off your site if it gets too active but that depends on the scope and user base.


I just noticed I didnt really answer your question about how many databases so:

It can be a thin line between including a set of tables in an existing db or dedicating a new one too it. Advantages will also depend on hardware, version, setup, parallelism in access, and other factors. I usually allocate at least one database to a site and keep most of it in that for projects an just logically separate the data by the tables, the other set up I use is one database for the sites CMS system (that I try not to manipulate directly) and one for my custom code (program accesses through BLL -> DAL -> stored procedure returning dataset or single value ).

[Redcore]

I go through HostGator (their Baby Croc plan) which allows me unlimited databases and unlimited hosted sites - so I never have to worry about this stuff.

I personally have a database for each web site for the sake of organization...but technically, you can put everything into one database - though that would be kind of a mess down the line even if you kept the table names pretty uniform and if the host probably would limit the size of the databases anyways.

[sobeit]

you may also want to consider virtual servers. For example l ike this one at tera-byte.com

[Redcore]

$55/month is pretty steep for hosting - especially when you can get shared hosting for way less. For instance, I prepay for my plan - making it $7.95/month - for 600GB/6TB vs 10GB/100GB for Tera-Byte.com's plan listed.

I don't feel that someone who is just learning web design needs a dedicated server - especially at that price.

[sobeit]

Originally Posted by Redcore

$55/month is pretty steep for hosting - especially when you can get shared hosting for way less. For instance, I prepay for my plan - making it $7.95/month - for 600GB/6TB vs 10GB/100GB for Tera-Byte.com's plan listed.

I don't feel that someone who is just learning web design needs a dedicated server - especially at that price.

you really need to read and understand virtual hosting. there are major differences between shared hosting and virtual hosting. You can do things with virtual hosting you cannot do with shared.

there are also differences between dedicated servers and virtual hosting.

imo, if you are going to have multiple sites in one locations, it would be easier in the long run to have something other than shared hosting accounts.

[Redcore]

Friendly friend: I work with VM as well as physical dedicated servers on a daily basis. I'm well aware of the pros and cons of your suggestion and STILL think that for someone learning how to build websites, it's not realistic. $55/month ($660/year).

I don't think dedicated hosting is for amateur/beginning web designers. The only justification is when a person has a lot of sites that have a lot of traffic (or one big site with lots of traffic) which would require more CPU, bandwidth, and hard drive space.

Just because you can do things with virtual hosting you cannot do with shared doesn't mean that's worth the extra $45 per month when most starting web designers are not going to utilize those features. You're a hardware techie, so of course that's going to interest you much more than someone who is just learning how to design websites. Shared hosting will have more than enough power for even advanced designers. If a time comes along where he can justify the move, that's fine. Right now I just don't see it.

[Shinzor]

If worst comes to worst get one and make x amounts of tables in the database as far as I know there was/is nothing wrong with getting multile features to use one database, justonce the database gets full it will slow the feautres down. In which case you could get new databases then. You can find hosts that allow you unlimited mysql databases, dream host . com is rather good cheap is well... as for customer service can be a bit slow lol.

[FredT]

Thanks for the responses. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back and read this. I haven't been on the forum for a while.

I'm sure virtual servers are great and maybe I would benefit from them. But right now, $55/month is out of the question. I am only fifteen and I am (hopefully) going to try to make some money this summer designing websites for small businesses around town. I can't afford any kind of hosting at this point that exceeds $10/month.

Anyways... as far as the databases, I have found a few hosts that look good. HostGator (baby croc) definitely looks like a good option. It also has a spring special right now, which is a bonus. I found Lunarpages because it was one of the top ranking hosts on webhostingjury.com. Lunarpages also has a spring special right now. I'm not sure if they allow multiple domains though. My music teacher recommended Host Monster. I was surprised to find that Host Monster allows unlimited disk space, transfer, and domains, and comes with a free domain name and 100 databases (which I think is plenty). I probably won't ever reach the disk or transfer limit for any of these plans, so the unlimited features of Host Monster really don't matter. The last host I am considering was recommended to me by a member of the forum at an earlier time. This particular plan is a special deal from Web Hosting Buzz, so I can't post it here. It is really cheap and has incredible specs, but I have read some poor reviews about it. Does anyone have any experiences, good or bad, with Web Hosting Buzz?

Having found all these hosts that allow unlimited (or near unlimited) databases, it really doesn't seem to make a difference which one I go with. Should I just go with the cheapest one? That seems to be Lunarpages (unfortunately the only one that was not recommended to me by a person).

So...

What do I do? HostGator, Lunarpages, Host Monster, Web Hosting Buzz?

Any suggestions?

Thanks!!!

[Redcore]

I can only vouch for HostGator - which I think is awesome :)

[FredT]

Hey Redcore,

What is that Xen Web Free Hosting thing in your signature?

[Redcore]

LOL well, did you read the page it goes to? You just post in their forums and they give you web hosting.