Using a database to store configuration rather than a configuration file

Question

Unfortunately searching for this kind of material produces a lot of noise for me so I was wondering if anyone here knew of a good resource for anyone wishing to learn how to use a database to store site configuration info rather than a file.

I guess some points I'm interested in are: 1) How to store the data. One array like e107? Separate row for each configurable? 2) How to get the configuration data. Global array?

Answer 1

Consider the following:

• SOME configuration will have to be stored in a config file unless you hard code it, notably, how to connect to the database
• Databases are bad at storing some types of config data - highly structured stuff, or things with unpredictable or variable structure - and you may end up with a schema which doesn't make a lot of sense
• It is much easier to store config files in a SCM system
• You can simply replace a config file upon upgrade, you can roll it back if you need to go back. Try doing this with database tables? Even in a best-case scenario, it's harder.

I would generally go for a config file, for small web applications.

Once you get as far as having an infrastructure involving web & non-web servers, putting the config in a centrally-accessible place becomes an advantage though. This doesn't have to be a SQL database, some people use LDAP or even DNS.