Symfony
sponsored by SensioLabs
Menu
  • About
  • Documentation
  • Screencasts
  • Cloud
  • Certification
  • Community
  • Businesses
  • News
  • Download
  1. Home
  2. Documentation
  3. Doctrine
  4. How to Work with multiple Entity Managers and Connections
  • Documentation
  • Book
  • Reference
  • Bundles
  • Cloud
Search by Algolia

How to Work with multiple Entity Managers and Connections

Edit this page

Warning: You are browsing the documentation for Symfony 4.0, which is no longer maintained.

Read the updated version of this page for Symfony 6.2 (the current stable version).

How to Work with multiple Entity Managers and Connections

You can use multiple Doctrine entity managers or connections in a Symfony application. This is necessary if you are using different databases or even vendors with entirely different sets of entities. In other words, one entity manager that connects to one database will handle some entities while another entity manager that connects to another database might handle the rest.

Note

Using multiple entity managers is pretty easy, but more advanced and not usually required. Be sure you actually need multiple entity managers before adding in this layer of complexity.

Caution

Entities cannot define associations across different entity managers. If you need that, there are several alternatives that require some custom setup.

The following configuration code shows how you can configure two entity managers:

  • YAML
  • XML
  • PHP
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
# config/packages/doctrine.yaml
doctrine:
    dbal:
        default_connection: default
        connections:
            default:
                # configure these for your database server
                url: '%env(DATABASE_URL)%'
                driver: 'pdo_mysql'
                server_version: '5.7'
                charset: utf8mb4
            customer:
                # configure these for your database server
                url: '%env(DATABASE_CUSTOMER_URL)%'
                driver: 'pdo_mysql'
                server_version: '5.7'
                charset: utf8mb4

    orm:
        default_entity_manager: default
        entity_managers:
            default:
                connection: default
                mappings:
                    Main:
                        is_bundle: false
                        type: annotation
                        dir: '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Main'
                        prefix: 'App\Entity\Main'
                        alias: Main
            customer:
                connection: customer
                mappings:
                    Customer:
                        is_bundle: false
                        type: annotation
                        dir: '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Customer'
                        prefix: 'App\Entity\Customer'
                        alias: Customer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
<!-- config/packages/doctrine.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<container xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:doctrine="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/services/services-1.0.xsd
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine
        http://symfony.com/schema/dic/doctrine/doctrine-1.0.xsd">

    <doctrine:config>
        <doctrine:dbal default-connection="default">
            <!-- configure these for your database server -->
            <doctrine:connection name="default"
                url="%env(DATABASE_URL)%"
                driver="pdo_mysql"
                server_version="5.7"
                charset="utf8mb4"
            />

            <!-- configure these for your database server -->
            <doctrine:connection name="customer"
                url="%env(DATABASE_CUSTOMER_URL)%"
                driver="pdo_mysql"
                server_version="5.7"
                charset="utf8mb4"
            />
        </doctrine:dbal>

        <doctrine:orm default-entity-manager="default">
            <doctrine:entity-manager name="default" connection="default">
                <doctrine:mapping
                    name="Main"
                    is_bundle="false"
                    type="annotation"
                    dir="%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Main"
                    prefix="App\Entity\Main"
                    alias="Main"
                />
            </doctrine:entity-manager>

            <doctrine:entity-manager name="customer" connection="customer">
                <doctrine:mapping
                    name="Customer"
                    is_bundle="false"
                    type="annotation"
                    dir="%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Customer"
                    prefix="App\Entity\Customer"
                    alias="Customer"
                />
            </doctrine:entity-manager>
        </doctrine:orm>
    </doctrine:config>
</container>
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
// config/packages/doctrine.php
$container->loadFromExtension('doctrine', array(
    'dbal' => array(
        'default_connection' => 'default',
        'connections' => array(
            // configure these for your database server
            'default' => array(
                'url'            => '%env(DATABASE_URL)%',
                'driver'         => 'pdo_mysql',
                'server_version' => '5.7',
                'charset'        => 'utf8mb4',
            ),
            // configure these for your database server
            'customer' => array(
                'url'            => '%env(DATABASE_CUSTOMER_URL)%',
                'driver'         => 'pdo_mysql',
                'server_version' => '5.7',
                'charset'        => 'utf8mb4',
            ),
        ),
    ),

    'orm' => array(
        'default_entity_manager' => 'default',
        'entity_managers' => array(
            'default' => array(
                'connection' => 'default',
                'mappings'   => array(
                    'Main'  => array(
                        is_bundle => false,
                        type => 'annotation',
                        dir => '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Main',
                        prefix => 'App\Entity\Main',
                        alias => 'Main',
                    )
                ),
            ),
            'customer' => array(
                'connection' => 'customer',
                'mappings'   => array(
                    'Customer'  => array(
                        is_bundle => false,
                        type => 'annotation',
                        dir => '%kernel.project_dir%/src/Entity/Customer',
                        prefix => 'App\Entity\Customer',
                        alias => 'Customer',
                    )
                ),
            ),
        ),
    ),
));

In this case, you've defined two entity managers and called them default and customer. The default entity manager manages entities in the src/Entity/Main directory, while the customer entity manager manages entities in src/Entity/Customer. You've also defined two connections, one for each entity manager.

Note

When working with multiple connections and entity managers, you should be explicit about which configuration you want. If you do omit the name of the connection or entity manager, the default (i.e. default) is used.

When working with multiple connections to create your databases:

1
2
3
4
5
# Play only with "default" connection
$ php bin/console doctrine:database:create

# Play only with "customer" connection
$ php bin/console doctrine:database:create --connection=customer

When working with multiple entity managers to generate migrations:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
# Play only with "default" mappings
$ php bin/console doctrine:migrations:diff
$ php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate

# Play only with "customer" mappings
$ php bin/console doctrine:migrations:diff --em=customer
$ php bin/console doctrine:migrations:migrate --em=customer

If you do omit the entity manager's name when asking for it, the default entity manager (i.e. default) is returned:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
// ...

use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManagerInterface;

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index(EntityManagerInterface $entityManager)
    {
        // These methods also return the default entity manager, but it's preferred
        // to get it by injecting EntityManagerInterface in the action method
        $entityManager = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
        $entityManager = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager('default');
        $entityManager = $this->get('doctrine.orm.default_entity_manager');

        // Both of these return the "customer" entity manager
        $customerEntityManager = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager('customer');
        $customerEntityManager = $this->get('doctrine.orm.customer_entity_manager');
    }
}

You can now use Doctrine just as you did before - using the default entity manager to persist and fetch entities that it manages and the customer entity manager to persist and fetch its entities.

The same applies to repository calls:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
use AcmeStoreBundle\Entity\Customer;
use AcmeStoreBundle\Entity\Product;
// ...

class UserController extends Controller
{
    public function index()
    {
        // Retrieves a repository managed by the "default" em
        $products = $this->getDoctrine()
            ->getRepository(Product::class)
            ->findAll()
        ;

        // Explicit way to deal with the "default" em
        $products = $this->getDoctrine()
            ->getRepository(Product::class, 'default')
            ->findAll()
        ;

        // Retrieves a repository managed by the "customer" em
        $customers = $this->getDoctrine()
            ->getRepository(Customer::class, 'customer')
            ->findAll()
        ;
    }
}
This work, including the code samples, is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
We stand with Ukraine.
Version:
Code consumes server resources. Blackfire tells you how

Code consumes server resources. Blackfire tells you how

Be trained by SensioLabs experts (2 to 6 day sessions -- French or English).

Be trained by SensioLabs experts (2 to 6 day sessions -- French or English).

↓ Our footer now uses the colors of the Ukrainian flag because Symfony stands with the people of Ukraine.

Avatar of Marcin Muszynski, a Symfony contributor

Thanks Marcin Muszynski for being a Symfony contributor

1 commit • 54 lines changed

View all contributors that help us make Symfony

Become a Symfony contributor

Be an active part of the community and contribute ideas, code and bug fixes. Both experts and newcomers are welcome.

Learn how to contribute

Symfony™ is a trademark of Symfony SAS. All rights reserved.

  • What is Symfony?
    • Symfony at a Glance
    • Symfony Components
    • Case Studies
    • Symfony Releases
    • Security Policy
    • Logo & Screenshots
    • Trademark & Licenses
    • symfony1 Legacy
  • Learn Symfony
    • Symfony Docs
    • Symfony Book
    • Reference
    • Bundles
    • Best Practices
    • Training
    • eLearning Platform
    • Certification
  • Screencasts
    • Learn Symfony
    • Learn PHP
    • Learn JavaScript
    • Learn Drupal
    • Learn RESTful APIs
  • Community
    • SymfonyConnect
    • Support
    • How to be Involved
    • Code of Conduct
    • Events & Meetups
    • Projects using Symfony
    • Downloads Stats
    • Contributors
    • Backers
  • Blog
    • Events & Meetups
    • A week of symfony
    • Case studies
    • Cloud
    • Community
    • Conferences
    • Diversity
    • Documentation
    • Living on the edge
    • Releases
    • Security Advisories
    • SymfonyInsight
    • Twig
    • SensioLabs
  • Services
    • SensioLabs services
    • Train developers
    • Manage your project quality
    • Improve your project performance
    • Host Symfony projects
    Deployed on
Follow Symfony
Search by Algolia