Hey guys,
My OSCommerce site includes a separately programmed feature for which I use SQL tables. I've decided to host its tables on a remote site offering free SQL accounts. I'd like to know if there could be any disadvantages to this approach.
Thanks Syd
Disadvantages might include the longer time it will take to run the script since it has to make a connection over the network and the need to make sure that the database connection is made securely -- that the password for the database login isn't passed in clear text & that the permissions on the receiving end of the connection are set to allow connections from only that IP. Of course you'll also want to make sure that the free hosting company provides adequate security for the database itself -- "free" doesn't alway pay for the best set up or the most knowledgeable technicians...
You should connect to your MySQL database using MySQL's built-in SSL ability. This insures that all data transfered is highly protected. You should create self-signed x509 certificates and hard code them. This is free, and you don't need a CA like Verisign for this. If there is a certificate exception then there is a MITM and thus this stops you from spilling the password.
Another option is a VPN, and this is better suited if you have multiple daemons that require secure point to point connections.
I am assuming you are hosting the OSCommerce database on the same server as the webserver and your solution only allocates one database per customer. You can use the add-on tables in the same database as the regular OSCommerce tables as long as you prefix them with some prefix so that they won't have a namespace conflicts. If the code to the third party solution is any good, it won't be too hard to configure a table prefix so that the code will know what the new names for the tables are. This solves any potential latency problem and keeps the control in your hands. I use this trick to host multiple wordpress blogs in the same database.