> That's a lot of schemas and a lot of tables.
>
> Consider doing something like the following:

>Have the same set of tables for all 5000 clients. Add a "client_id"
>field to each table. For each client, create their own schema, and then
>use rules and views inside that schema to make it seem like each client
>has their own set of tables.

You know I never thought of using the schema like that, that's a great
idea.  Fortunately the table structure is already designed to work
with just one set of tables.    The trick is pulling off a change like
that without any downtime to speak of.  I've done it before, and it's
not fun.