Yii configuration file protected/main/config.php by default comes up with one db connection. To have multiple db connections like, same db withing mysql or sqlite or something else, then do follow the below code
<?php // protected/main/config.php return array( ... 'components' => array( // connection one 'db' => array( 'connectionString' => 'mysql:host=dbserver1;dbname=my1db', ... ), // connection two 'dblogs' => array( 'connectionString' => 'mysql:host=logshost;dbname=logs', 'username' => 'loguser', 'password' => '*******', ... 'class' => 'CDbConnection' // Important! DO NOT FORGET THIS! ), ... ?>
If you notice the dblogs has class as CDbConnection, which is used for connection purpose. Internally, Yii assigns CDbConnection class to db by default.
How to use: You can use the second database using Yii::app()->dblogs and first by Yii::app()->db.
We can also connect to db as shown below
<?php $connection=new CDbConnection($dsn,$username,$password); // establish connection. Check for try and catch for errors $connection->active=true; .......... do your stuff here $connection->active=false; // close connection ?>