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I plan to create a websystem where organisations (customers) can setup a website with particular functions and their information stored in a (mysql) database. I already started with a database design which includes one master database plus a customer database for each new organisation (which is created after filling in a webform).

Now I start to question my database design decision and wonder whether just single database for all organisations would not be a better choice ? The reason being that there will be various communication (==information exchange) between some of these organisations and these communicating organisations would have unnecessary copies of some tables (e.g., they both have 2-3 tables which are almost copies of each other and therefore they could also share).

Furthermore, implementing the information exchange seems a bit more complex with various databases than with one database. On the other hand, I assume(d) that database queries by the various customers within a single very large database may require much more time than with a system with multiple databases.

Bottomline, as a non-database expert I'm not sure which of the two options would be best to proceed with, and therefore would appreciate your advice.

Namphibian
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Joppo
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Go with one database. If you are successful and you have thousands of users on the system you are going to need a army of database administrators to look after the various systems. For that reason alone I would avoid having multiple databases.

Namphibian
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  • thnx for your reply, your db management argument seems logical. On the other hand, I (only now) noticed some pro's for multiple databases at http://stackoverflow.com/questions/18910519/pros-cons-using-multiple-databases-vs-using-single-database - focussing at security aspects... – Joppo Oct 28 '13 at 08:43
  • All are valid arguments. I currently have to use multiple databases myself. However I try to keep things manageable. This part of design is not a science it is a Art. Good luck. – Namphibian Oct 28 '13 at 10:24