Hibernate version: v. 2.1.4
Name and version of the database you are using: mySQL v4.0.16


My application needs to have the ability to connect to different mysql databases depending on the client logging into the application. In searching the forum and reading the documentaion I know this is possible using multiple SessionFactory instances and multiple hibernate.cfg.xml files but I'm don't see an exact solution to my problem.

Each database is configured identically but does not share data between customers. I'd like, however, to have the ability to specify a single hibernate.cfg.xml file that contains the mappings and other common properties used by the application and only specify a different database connection URL for the session factory. In other words, I don't want to have to create a complete hibernate.cfg.xml for each customer because if a mapping change in the .xml is required, that would end up being too many files to maintain.

Is it simply a matter of specifying a database connection URL in for the Configuration of the sessionFactory? Any examples out there?

Try the Spring framework for easy switching betweeen datasources while maintaining mapping definitions.
You could also set up a filter in Ant or Maven that replaces your datasources connection info at build time.

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I'm not familar with the Spring framework and have limited time on getting something implemented so not sure if I could that up and working in time.

Is there another alternative?

Try to generate different configuration files from one master configuration file. Ant's filter task allows you to replace occurences of a string in a file. You could thus, add @hibernate.datasource@ to your master configuration file and replace it with whatever value you need for your different configurations.