How many MySql databases do I need?

1, 5 or 10?

[The Cricketer]

I'm quite new to MySql and wanted to transfer my website to a webserver on which I can use PHP and also MySql. My current plain html website has been up for 2 years and has 356 html pages (average size 10kb). One of the main things that I want from the new website is the storing of each page's textual content within the database.

Seeing as in 2 years time I may have 800 web pages, am I likely to get by with 1 Mysql database from my web host or do I need more? I will probably store images in it aswell. At the moment I have about 350 1kb-15kb jpeg images. This is likely to double in 2 years as well.

Basically I don't understand the maximum capacities of Mysql databases etc. Can anyone give me any advice in deciding how many databases I could need and the reasons behind it please.

[coopster]

Databases in MySQL are implemented as directories containing files that correspond to tables in the database. It all comes down to how you want to organize and manage your data.

Have you had a look through the MySQL tutorial [dev.mysql.com] yet? That, and the manual pages themselves will be a valuable resource for you.

[digitalv]

I don't see any advantage to you storing images in the database - just keep them as files on your server and store the URL to the image in the database as a varchar field.

800 is a pretty small number - one database should be more than powerful enough. I currently have a well-optimized database with nearly 500 Million records in it, accessible only through complex cross-table queries, and it's just as fast as it was when there were only 4 Million.

[The Cricketer]

I don't see any advantage to you storing images in the database - just keep them as files on your server and store the URL to the image in the database as a varchar field.

Of course! Learning already.

Your comments give me a good idea digitalv, thanks. Yep looks like 1 database will be more than enough.

And now I'm on my way to the MySql tutorial.....
Thanks folks