Multiple Sites with one Database?

[seanmc]

I have searched the forums, but I haven't found anything that answers this question in detail. I am going to have 10-20 shopping cart sites that will share one database. I understand that there is a need to differentiate between certain tables that are specific to each site, but the goal is to share some common data such as products, layouts, product types, etc.

I'm thinking that I could specify certain tables with a site specific prefix if they need to be unique from other "shared" database information.

The other idea I had was to create some database views and have some php script that checks which domain the user accesses and then load certain tables that are unique for that particular site.

These two options sound good in theory, but I'm not sure which one is more practical, and easier to set up. I'm still a beginner when it comes to mySQL and PHP.

Anyways, I'm trying to avoid having to manage, maintain, backup 20 separate databases for 20+ sites that might share the same products and other info anyways.

Any ideas?

[poolprorich]

http://www.zen-cart.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=563

http://www.medea.co.uk/dev/multisite...tions_0.4.html

[seanmc]

Thank you these links were helpful