Which way Single or Multiple databases?

Databases
1

Hi guys, I am building and in house web app that will be used by clients from different countries. Some of the functionalities and services is based on country of the client. My current design is to have one database for the application where the country field from the client_details table is used to filter clients by country when necesary.

A friend proposes that a better option will be to have a seperate database for each country. In this case is he right and if so how can this inprove the overall application? Links will also be apprecaited where I can go and educate myself some more on such a design if its indeed a better choice.

Thanks

2

It really depends on what type of database you are using as to whether it will make a difference. For example mySQL does not allow all the same security options to be set within a “database” as some other databases do and so you’d need to split it into separate “databases” in order to add those levels of security. mySQL does store all those logical databases in the one physical database though.