Re: large database versus many databases

Uwe Maiwald wrote:

> Hi,
>
> we are currently planning a very large installation of a
> web-application using PostgreSQL. The application can be configured to
> handle 1 database per customer, or all customers in one large database.
>
> We plan to start with e.g. 500 customers, each of which can have 200
> MB or more in the database. And we want the system to be expandable as
> needed (thousands of customers, using lots of memory).
>
> Has anyone any experience what is best
> - using one very large database for all customers or
> - using 1 database per customer
>
> concerning expandability, performance, server configuration, system
> updates etc.
>
> Is it advisable not to install more than a certain amount of databases
> on one server?
>
> Any hints welcome,
>
> Thanks,  Uwe
>
>
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I am currently developing a system like this and we are using one
database per customer.
You only have to consider one thing.
If you have only one database for all customer and database have a
problem all customer can't work.
If you have many databases as customers if a database fails only one
customer can't work, and it's easier to solve for one that for all.