2 sites run on same database

Is it possible to have 2 sites hosted on seperate servers to run off the same database. I know if they were on the same server its possible but not sure about different servers. Possibly just change the host name to "domain.com" or something

 

It is possible. As long as the database will accept connections from remote locations. You will need to check with your host.

 

Thanks Joe

 

I have 40+ sites running off the same database server. Some are co-located, others are remote. As long as you can connect through an IP address (you can with SQL Server and MySQL) youshould be good to go-

 

I'm thinking of security issue with accessing database from different servers.

I do believe that the connection not set on secure channel so it is possible for sniffers to catch the datastream.

I guess this would be ok for data that is not very important.
Database with login credential would probably be a no no.
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I also have a number of domains accessing one database - they are one the same server though.

If you have cpanel, you are able to set up hosts who are able to access the database. I use this to have my local database manager (EMS) access the database online.

Within cpanel, go to mysql databases, should be at the bottom, 'Access Hosts'

 

There is no important information in the database just content data.

Thanks for the advice but I have plesk

 

It's best to be careful about having your database server in a different geographic location to your webserver.

It will certainly work, so long as you configure it right and have a database that can work through a TCP/IP pipe (mySQL, then...), however you will almost certainly suffer speed issues unless your colocation / dedicated providers are top quality.

Do some testing before committing yourself to any contracts / design decisions would be my advice.

 

Can you access mysql databases via ip remotely, I thought you could only do that with sqlserver

 

Yeah definitely, so long as you access the database using TCP/IP. I use mySQL and ASP.NET, and have been successfully running my scripts on a test machine at my house from a test database on one of our colocated servers.

http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/1.0.html

As for the original question - here's a few things to add to your todo list:

- Make sure the relevant ports are open on your firewall and that any NAT is working correctly
- Find out what DB your ISP use, then verify that that DB allows connections over TCP/IP
- Verify that your ISP have configured your DB to accept connections from outside their subnet.

 

We'd recommend if you are remote from your database that all data queries are encrypted. Even if your data isn't too critical, I'm sure you'd be annoyed if some script kiddie replaced your data with web graffiti.

VPN is an option, or alternatively establish a connection over SSH then port forward the database connection to your host.

If correctly implemented either option will prevent your login details from being revealed.

 

I have 12 servers currently running off of 2 master databases. Its really the way to go if you can do it.

 

i would need this i have an article database

 

I'd be careful about it. You're taking a big risk if you plan to pass queries in real time between your web app and a remote MySQL db. Basically, if there is a hiccup anywhere along the way, you can end up with a dead site. Or if a temporary bottleneck/congestion is encountered, your site can end up too slow (not good for bots etc).

The only time I've bothered to do this sort of thing is when using cron/batch jobs to sync dbs every 24 hours. You can do it with most dbs including MySQL, MSSQL etc.

Cheers,

JL

 

I think its great if your site is small enough you can do everything on 1 machine. I try to do that when possible but unfortuantly as your site grows you will find you need a dedicated sql box. Also once you implement multiple web frontends its just not a option to have sql on the localhost.

That is why you have redundancy and failover =).

 

Shouldn't be a performance problem if the db server and web servers are on the same network (in other words the packets won't have to travel across the net). If they are not on the same network, my experience has been that the performance is less than acceptable for me. It would all depend on the amount of data you query at one time, however. You will surely notice a decrease in speed, but if it's still acceptable, then it may work for you.

 

Yes, actually I was unclear about that.. obviously it's fine if the boxes are on the same sub/net.. I was referring more to distribution across providers and what have you.

What you get for posting at 2 in the am..

Cheers,

JL

 

But what about the issue of duplicate content/sites?

 

I'd just install a copy of the database on the remote server, create a second copy of a page that has more db operations than most, change the connection string to the db in that page so it uses the copy on the remote server and test the performance. If you're just doing simple data updates and not pulling back a lot of data it won't be HORRIBLE. If you're pulling back larger result sets, however, you'll probably be quite disappointed in the response time.

 

If you're pulling back larger result sets, however, you'll probably be quite disappointed in the response time. :")