To configure the database there should be a file database.php in your application/config directory. If it isn't there you should copy it from the system/config directory. It will look something like this:

$config['default'] = array
(
	'benchmark'     => TRUE,
	'persistent'    => FALSE,
	'connection'    => array
	(
		'type'     => 'mysql',
		'user'     => 'dbuser',
		'pass'     => 'p@ssw0rd',
		'host'     => 'localhost',
		'port'     => FALSE,
		'socket'   => FALSE,
		'database' => 'kohana'
	),
	'character_set' => 'utf8',
	'table_prefix'  => '',
	'object'        => TRUE,
	'cache'         => FALSE,
	'escape'        => TRUE
);

• benchmark is used to enable or disable benchmarking
• persistent is used to enable or disable a persistent connection
• connection array of specific parameters or supply a valid DSN identifier in the format: driver://user:password@server_or_socket/database
• character_set which character_set to use
• table_prefix the table prefix to use for your tables, if any
• object if set to TRUE, database results return objects by default, otherwise they return arrays.
• cache enable or disable the query cache
• escape enable or disable automatic query builder escaping

You can have as many $config entries as you need. Each one needs a unique group identifier. You can use multiple config groups to connect to different databases in the same application.

The database library provides database access to your application using drivers.

Currently we have the following drivers available:

1. MsSQL
2. MySQL
3. MySQLi
4. PostgreSQL
5. PDOSqlite (available in SVN)

Continue to the next section: Connecting to a database >>