Connecting to the database problem

[eluser]Thomas Edwards[/eluser]
Having an issue with connecting to a database, usual message:

"Unable to connect to your database server using the provided settings."

If I use a standard script, like so, it connects fine and gets data.

Code:

<?php

DEFINE (DB_USER, "username");
DEFINE (DB_PASSWORD, "password");
DEFINE (DB_HOST, "localhost");
DEFINE (DB_NAME, "database");

$db_connection = mysql_connect (DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD);

mysql_select_db (DB_NAME);

$query = "SELECT * FROM stories";
$result = mysql_db_query (DB_NAME, $query, $db_connection);
while ($row = mysql_fetch_array($result)) {
    echo 'entry';
}

?>

However, pop the same working settings into CI and it always returns that error. Any ideas?

[eluser]mddd[/eluser]
Not all web / database servers support persistent connections. Try setting the config 'pconnect' setting to false.

[eluser]Prophet[/eluser]
Triple check the settings in config/database.php and make sure $db['default']['dbdriver'] is set to "mysql".

Maybe you could post your config/database.php?

[eluser]Thomas Edwards[/eluser]
Thanks for the advice Prophet, checked that.

mddd – totally worked. Does the persistent just create a slight slowdown whenever you access the database?

[eluser]Prophet[/eluser]
Sorry for giving the obvious advice

Persistent connections are database connections that don't close once the script has finished being executed. They reduce latency by removing the need to create a new connection every time a database resources is requested but can increase load in the database server. (Was that what you were asking?)

[eluser]mddd[/eluser]
@Thomas: Prophet's explanation is correct. However if your webserver and database server are on the same machine (as in most standard shared hosting packages) the extra time will be minimal.

[eluser]Thomas Edwards[/eluser]
It’s on a client’s shared hosting package but should have fairly minimal traffic. Thanks for the advice guys!