Simultaneous Database Connections I have two databases set in my settings.php file. One is used for drupal, one is for our backend which is external from the drupal installation and databases. I would like to query the backend database but cannot change the db_active because then our site users will have issues accessing their profiles. How can I go about connecting to the two databases simultaneously?
I think you are inventing a problem that doesn't exist.

The active database will be per-request, not site wide.  So if one user is accessing your backend, another user can do whatever they need against your default Drupal database.

Within a request, you can use the db_set_active() function to switch databases as much as you want. eg

$query = db_query(...);   // runs against the default database
db_set_active('backend'); // change databases
$query = db_query(...);   // runs against $databases['backend'];
db_set_active();          // change back to default databases
$query = db_query(...);   // runs against the default database


As PHP is single threaded w/in a single request, you don't have to worry about a query running against the wrong database.

So, in summary, just use db_set_active() to change databases when you need to, and then remember to switch back when you are done.  If you isolate your code (which you really need to do in Drupal anyway), you shouldn't run into trouble.

I would also look into hook_views_data().  This works very well to being in external data into Drupal.