Drupal 6 is pretty much going to ignore any additional (non-default) connections specified, if $db_url is an array(), unless you try to connect. No problem putting the connection string there and using only when you need it. This is even true for DBTNG backport module, although it has other ways of setting up connections after Drupal has boostrapped.
-Mike
Ms. Nancy Wichmann wrote:
No, the $db_url method simply will not work because we cannot guarantee that the remote will always be accessible. If it's not, there is no reason why our site should not be. Once in a while (cron), we need to go get some data from that database; if it's not available at that time, we will merely log the error and try later. /*Nancy*/ Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. -- Dr. Martin L. King, Jr.
*From:* Fred Jones Not clear what the question is. does this help: http://drupal.org/node/18429 On Mon, Jul 11, 2011 at 9:35 PM, Ms. Nancy Wichmann wrote: > I know that the "standard" way to access another database is to include it > in $db_url in the settigs.php file. This has the undesireable effect that > the remote database must be available all the time. In my case, we only need > to access the remote DB a few times a week via a cron job, where much better > error handling is available. I haven't yet found a way (I'm still searching > DO) to do this. Does anyone have any good ideas? This is Drupal 6 - don't > bother suggesting an upgrade. Replication is probably not an option because > we shouldn't have access to, nor need, everything in the remote DB.