The need to connect to several databases in sophisticated web applications frequently arises, whether for managing different types of data, isolating concerns, or optimising performance. Laravel, a powerful PHP framework, provides complete support for smoothly connecting to numerous databases.
In this article, we will walk you through the process of connecting to multiple databases in Laravel 10, giving you the knowledge and skills you need to properly manage and interact with a variety of data sources.
By the end of this course, you will be confident in your ability to connect to various databases in Laravel 10.
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Let’s get started.
Laravel Installation
Open terminal and run this command to create a laravel project.
composer create-project laravel/laravel myblogIt will create a project folder with name myblog inside your local system.
To start the development server of laravel –
php artisan serveURL: http://127.0.0.1:8000
Assuming laravel already installed inside your system.
Update .env File
The very first step to create secondary databases. To create secondary database environment variables we will use .env.
Open .env file and add details of other database as well.
//... DB_CONNECTION=mysql DB_HOST=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT=3306 DB_DATABASE=database_1 DB_USERNAME=root DB_PASSWORD=root //... DB_CONNECTION_2=mysql DB_HOST_2=127.0.0.1 DB_PORT_2=3306 DB_DATABASE_2=database_2 DB_USERNAME_2=root DB_PASSWORD_2=root //...
Here, database_1 and database_2 are two databases we have connected inside .env file.
Update Database File
Open database.php file from /config folder.
This file contains the information of connection groups.
Now, you need to use .env variables (secondary database) into it.
<?php
use Illuminate\Support\Str;
return [
'default' => env('DB_CONNECTION', 'mysql'),
'connections' => [
//...
// Primary database
'mysql' => [
'driver' => 'mysql',
'url' => env('DATABASE_URL'),
'host' => env('DB_HOST', '127.0.0.1'),
'port' => env('DB_PORT', '3306'),
'database' => env('DB_DATABASE', 'forge'),
'username' => env('DB_USERNAME', 'forge'),
'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD', ''),
'unix_socket' => env('DB_SOCKET', ''),
'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
'prefix' => '',
'prefix_indexes' => true,
'strict' => true,
'engine' => null,
'options' => extension_loaded('pdo_mysql') ? array_filter([
PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA => env('MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA'),
]) : [],
],
// Secondary database
'mysql_2' => [
'driver' => 'mysql',
'url' => env('DATABASE_URL'),
'host' => env('DB_HOST_2', '127.0.0.1'),
'port' => env('DB_PORT_2', '3306'),
'database' => env('DB_DATABASE_2', 'forge'),
'username' => env('DB_USERNAME_2', 'forge'),
'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD_2', ''),
'unix_socket' => env('DB_SOCKET', ''),
'charset' => 'utf8mb4',
'collation' => 'utf8mb4_unicode_ci',
'prefix' => '',
'prefix_indexes' => true,
'strict' => true,
'engine' => null,
'options' => extension_loaded('pdo_mysql') ? array_filter([
PDO::MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA => env('MYSQL_ATTR_SSL_CA'),
]) : [],
],
//...
],
//...
];How To Use Multiple Database Connection in Migration?
When you create a migration file from artisan command, it stores inside /database/migrations folder and connected with primary database..
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To connect with multiple database to migrations, look here these examples.
Primary Database(Default)
<?php
//...
public function up(): void
{
Schema::create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('title');
$table->string('description')->nullable();
$table->timestamps();
});
}
//...Secondary Database
To connect migration with second database, use only Schema::connection(‘mysql_2’). Use connection method and connection name in both up() and down() methods.
<?php
//...
public function up(): void
{
Schema::connection('mysql_2')->create('products', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->string('title');
$table->string('description')->nullable();
$table->timestamps();
});
}
//...This is all about connecting migrations with multiple databases groups.
How To Use Multiple Database Connection in Model?
When you create models using artisan command, it will be stored inside /app/Models and by default it will be connected to primary database.
To connect with multiple databases, look these examples.
Primary Database(Default)
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Product extends Model {
//...
}
Secondary Database
To use secondary database in model, use $connection protected variable in Model class.
<?php
namespace App;
use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
class Product extends Model{
protected $connection = 'mysql_2';
}
This is all about connecting models with multiple databases groups.
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How To Use Multiple Database Connection in Controller?
If suppose, sometimes we want to connect database at runtime then we can connect direct from controller.
Primary Database(Default)
<?php
//...
class ProductController extends BaseController
{
public function getProducts()
{
$productModel = new Product;
$find = $productModel->find(1);
return $find;
}
}
Secondary Database
To connect with secondary database we use setConnection() method by model object and set connect group into it.
<?php
//...
class ProductController extends BaseController
{
public function getProducts()
{
$productModel = new Product;
$productModel->setConnection('mysql_2');
$find = $productModel->find(1);
return $find;
}
}This is all about connecting controllers with multiple databases groups.
How To Use Multiple Database Connection in Query Builder?
You will see connection of query builder with primary and secondary database.
Primary Database(Default)
//...
$products = DB::table("products")->get();
print_r($products);
//...
Secondary Database
//...
$products = DB::connection('mysql_2')->table("products")->get();
print_r($products);
//...
Successfully, you can see we have seen the concept of Multiple database connection in Controllers, Model, Query Builder, etc.
That’s it.
We hope this article helped you to learn about Laravel 10 How To Connect with Multiple Database Tutorial in a very detailed way.
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