Connect to a different database in django shell

Question

How can I connect to a different database when in a Django shell?

Something like:

python manage.py shell --database=slave

I tried googling all around, but couldn't find anything useful on this.

This is what my settings looks like:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'db1',
        'USER': 'user',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': '10.10.10.10',
        'PORT': '',
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 1000,
    },
    'slave':{
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'db2',
        'USER': 'user',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': '10.10.10.10',
        'PORT': '',
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 1000,
    },
}

Gocht · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-12 14:48:19Z

11

You could select database in your query with using() ORM's method:

# This will hit a model in your default DB:
Model.objects.using('default').all()

# And this will hit a model in your slave DB:
Model.objects.using('slave').all()

answered Jul 12, 2016 at 14:48

Gocht

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1 Comment

Anshul Goyal Over a year ago

Yeah, this came up in my search, but I was planning to run a lot of queries on the slave, so was looking for a better way to do it. Another approach would have been to use a different settings file, and that seemed slightly better idea since I might want to run this on another slave later. Wanted to check if what I was looking for was directly supported. Anyways, thanks and +1.

Antoine Pinsard · Accepted Answer · 2016-07-12 15:05:18Z

You can split your settings module into submodules. For instance:

project/
    settings/
        __init__.py
        base.py
        dev.py
        prod.py
        shell.py

Your main/common settings are located in project/settings/base.py

In development, set DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE environment variable to project.settings.dev.

project/settings/dev.py may look like:

from .base import *

DEBUG = True

project/settings/shell.py may look like:

from .dev import *

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql',
        'NAME': 'db2',
        'USER': 'user',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': '10.10.10.10',
        'PORT': '',
        'CONN_MAX_AGE': 1000,
    },
}

# OR
#
# DATABASES['master'] = DATABASES['default']
# DATABASES['default'] = DATABASES['slave']

Then run python manage.py shell --settings=project.settings.shell.

Or, alternatively, just create a second settings module:

project/
    settings.py
    shell_settings.py

project/shell_settings.py would look like:

from .settings import *

DATABASES['master'] = DATABASES['default']
DATABASES['default'] = DATABASES['slave']

and run python manage.py shell --settings=project.shell_settings

DForsyth · Accepted Answer · 2018-10-03 14:26:52Z

2

You can also use the connection module from django.db to create/connect to a brand new test database.

from django.db import connection
db = connection.creation.create_test_db()

I know it's not quite what was asked, but it's helpful and quick when testing. It will create a new test database and connect you to it. I haven't figured out how to connect to an existing database with it yet, but stay tuned.

answered Oct 3, 2018 at 14:26

DForsyth

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1 Comment

Pratik K. Over a year ago

You can use cursor = connection.cursor() to get a cursor to the default database.

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