Database scaling question

Question

My app has outgrown just the one vps server (using Mediatemple DV). I want to put the database on another server. Does it have to be another Mediatemple server? Is it possible to use another hosting company and will the connections across the internet cause a slowdown if I choose to use say Rackspace or Linode for the DB server?

btw, using mysql

Answer 1

There's no reason you can't have your database server hosted somewhere else, but it probably will slow things down a little. How much it slows things down depends on exactly what you're trying to do.