This is a very basic question and I hope you won't mind my troubling you with it. If I do not have a legacy database for an e-commerce application I am developing, would I build a database external to Zope to manage product information in MySQL, for example, or would that database be incorporated within Zope. Thank you,

Depends on how dynamic you wanted to the site to be! :^) Seriously, if you know well the domain a relational database might be a reasonable place. Of course, since changing the schema/structure of RDBMSs is, erm, problematic you'll want to ensure you have a strong feel for data elements. OTOH, if you either (a) don't know the domain well, or (b) want to reserve the ability to change schema on the fly in reactive mode using Zope's organic object database (aka ZODB3) might be the ticket. Of course you get a lot of benefits other than dynamic schema (versions, undo, et al). The introduction of ZCatalog goes a LONG way toward making the ZODB3 a really viable storage as it adds indexing machinery to the mix. An added benefit is that the indexing machinery facilitates both free-text and structured searches. All that said, we still have customers that don't feel comfy with an "Object Database" -- fortunately (imho) Zope's relational integration is pretty dang good (esp with pluggable brains). -Rob