Making databases easier

[Dan]

I've noticed something interesting through my ventures in the web.

A lot of new users have problems with MySQL--they don't understand it. So when a script asks them to create a database, they have enough trouble.

Now, on a separate stance, cPanel has all databases as 'user_database', whereas Plesk has 'database'.

The problem with this, is, in cPanel, a user doesn't know to use prefixes. In Plesk, it may say that the database exists, when to the user, it does not.

Anyone have any ideas how to make this better? Is there a way so you can have domains Plesk-style, and still let there be multiple DB names?

Looking for thoughts on the topic. :)

[sonicgroup]

There's no good way. In order to be able to use the same database name for multiple users, you'd need to be running multiple MySQL servers.

This is why cPanel, Ensim, InterWorx, and other panels started using the username_ prefix. It eliminates the problem of having database name collisions between users. Most of the time, the user doesn't have to worry about the prefix because it's automatically added to whatever name they enter (as in the case of the aforementioned 3).

[Dan]

Yes, but the problem is: most users don't know that there's a prefix, or are not sure when to use it.