How to select a database server when dealing with PHP. | (Server-side programming)

Have you ever dealt with databases or have you been dealing with database management systems, here is a recap on how to select a database server when dealing specifically with PHP.

With such a wide variety of choices, it can be difficult to decide which Database Management system to use. While most people would balk at open source solutions simply because they are free (support is a must have feature for most people), the ability to get support contracts for these products brings them back into the set of possibilities.

Therefore, I will present a small list of the things you might want to keep in mind when making the choice between DBMSes for your web application.

Thinking about your data.

Before you can begin selecting a particular database software package, you first have to think carefully about your data and how you might go about organizing it. Are you going to build a bunch of small tables, where performance will not be so critical, but ease of organisation and visualisation? Or will you be building a system around a table that could grow into millions, if not billions?
It is not critical that you know exactly how your data will be laid out when designing and Creating your database, but if you at least have some idea of what your data is going to be and what order of magnitude is, then you can start to think about what features you will value most in a DBMS.

Capability.

It may seem obvious, but you should be sure that your choice in database servers supports everything you want it to support. Will it be able to work on the platform where you to place your servers? If you want to deploy a non-Windows servers for you web application, Microsoft's SQL server will not do the trick.
Similarly, some database systems do not fully support Unicode, and since you will be making this an important part of your web applications, you will not use a server that does not correctly handle multi-byte strings. If you imagine that your database will have a complicated logical structure, and you will benefit from transactions ( a feature by which you can be able to group a number of operations on the data into seemingly atomic action), then you should be sure to your choice supports this.

Performance.

When suggesting thoughts about how you might structure your data, performance can be a big concern. If you are writing an online discussion forum that takes about 45 seconds to show an individual discussion, people will not likely do much talking.
While it is generally unwise to think that it is safe to design your database and organize your data in an inefficient manner because some database package is "so fast it will take care of it," we should recognize that some systems will scale better than others as data size and user load increase. This will give you more time to recognize that your data the need rise.

Accessibility from within PHP

For any DBMS you will choose, you want to be sure that any database engine is usable within PHP. The ones in my previous post are fully supported by the language. However, the specific features, you might want to make sure that they can be accessed via the available functions. If you do not see what you need in the PHP Manual, spending more time searching the Internet for discussions about the feature often yields the answer.

Cost

Another thing to keep in mind is to be sure that you can afford whatever database server you choose. It is important not only to consider the cost of the actual database software, but also what will cost to support it, what sort of hardware requirements the package has, and any operating system costs associated with it.
There is also the cost of training somebody to manage the database, or hiring outside aid (outsourcing) to do so. If you were down to choosing between MySQL and Microsoft SQL Server and had a friend or someone in your office who had extensive experience with the latter, then this might be a reason to consider that package more favorably despite the higher cost of acquisition. Learning the implementation details, ins and outs, and quirks of a particular database engine can be both time-consuming and frustrating, while finding and hiring somebody to manage your database full time can be both difficult and expensive.

Conclusion.

Thus, due to the relative popularity, availability, ease of use, and excellent online documentation, MySQL database is arguably a better database server to use. However, it is absolutely vital to note that this is not the "best" database server available, or the one that is always going to be best for your needs.