In the server-specific sections of the config.inc.php file, we see lines referring to $cfg['Servers'][$i] for each server. Here, the variable $i is used so that one can easily cut and paste whole sections of the configuration file to configure more servers. While copying such sections, we should take care that the $i++; instruction that precedes each section and is crucial to delimit the server sections is also copied.

Then, at the end of the sections, the following line controls what happens at startup:

$cfg['ServerDefault'] = 1;

The default value, 1, means that phpMyAdmin will connect by itself to the first server defined or present this server choice by default when using advanced authentication—more on this later in this chapter...