# How does base camp manage there accounts

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-does-base-camp-manage-there-accounts/98608>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [July 16, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-does-base-camp-manage-there-accounts/98608 "2006-07-16T20:35:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scot)\
**Post date:** [July 16, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-does-base-camp-manage-there-accounts/98608/1 "2006-07-16T20:35:25Z")

</div>

hi,

Cant find any information this anywhere so was wondering if anyone had  
any ideas.

Basically when you go to [basecamp.com](http://basecamp.com) it allows you to sign up for a  
account and gives you a url [username.projectpath.com](http://username.projectpath.com)

I was just wondering how they do this, and if each account has there own  
database or if it is all stored in one.

thanks  
scott

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scot)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-does-base-camp-manage-there-accounts/98608/2 "2006-07-17T00:35:41Z")

</div>

Dunno how basecamp does it. But check out these 2 solutions.

[http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2006/05/22/dan-webbs-request-routing-plugin/](http://weblog.rubyonrails.org/2006/05/22/dan-webbs-request-routing-plugin/)  
[http://www.agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/account\_location](http://www.agilewebdevelopment.com/plugins/account_location)

On 7/16/06, scot [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> thanks  
> scott
> 
> –  
> Posted via [http://www.ruby-forum.com/](http://www.ruby-forum.com/).
> 
> * * *
> 
> Rails mailing list  
> removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

–

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@scot](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/scot)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/how-does-base-camp-manage-there-accounts/98608/3 "2006-07-17T00:45:04Z")

</div>

> 

storing it in one database or not is just a design decision, but  
considering  
DHH wrote the account\_location plugin ( that sets up subdomains for  
accounts) it’s probably a safe bet that they store many of them in the  
same  
database (for at least one of their apps), although i’m sure there comes  
a  
point where one box can only serve so many accounts before experiencing  
performance degredation.

I don’t think the issues of subdomains and databases are really  
something  
that should necessarily have any direct connection. The real question is  
database seperation, and the resulting security benefits and connection  
overhead issues are something that is important to the design of your  
application. Account specific subdomains are just windowdressing.

-kate = masukomi