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Lets suppose I'm building a web application and wonder where to store configuration values (e.g. key-value pairs). It is expected that those pairs will be looked up by keys.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of storing those values in a relational database in comparison to storing them in a configuration file (such as an .ini file)? Are there other possible solutions?

As pointed out by @DisgruntledGoat in his answer, in case of user-specific configuration values, a relational database is the right option.

I am more curious about non-user-specific configuration options, such as let's say the threshold of my logging system, or the number of articles to show on homepage. Configuration files (such as ini files) were designed for that purpose, but I have seen people storing them in a database a few times as well.

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  • "Is it better" - Better for what purpose? Commented Feb 4, 2012 at 12:30
  • I edited the question a little bit. Commented Feb 4, 2012 at 13:49

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There isn't much difference, but the advantage of a database is you can fetch only the values you need. It's also better if you have per-user options.

One other option if this is a downloadable app is to have a file in the native language you are using, eg PHP. Then you just include the file and have the options there.

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Why is a native language file an option just in case of a downloadable app?
@DušanRychnovský because users can't edit PHP files on your server if you are hosting the app. Some apps like phpMyAdmin or the CodeIgniter framework have config in PHP files.
But I can edit them and it might be easier and more straight forward than editing ini files and then parsing them in my (let's say) PHP code. Native language conf. files seem to have the same advantages (over non-native language ones) to me - if the app is hosted on my server - as to my users - if the app is downloadable. Perhaps even more because I'm a prorammer, whereas my users might not be and therefore might understand ini files better then PHP files.
@DušanRychnovský I think we're confusing two issues here. If you are hosting your web app yourself, and it has only one set of options for all users, then yes using e.g. PHP would be the easiest. But that isn't possible if users need to set their own preferences, you will need to store those in a database.
Yes, that's right. I ment application non-per-user configuration in my beginning question. I should edit my question to reflect that.

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