Allow me to add a bit more detail using the following settings.php file entry:
$my_db_users = 'dbusers.shared_';
$databases['default']['default'] = array(
'driver' => 'mysql',
'database' => 'dbdefault',
'username' => 'databaseuser',
'password' => 'databasepassword',
'host' => '127.0.0.1',
'port' => 3066,
'prefix' => array(
'default' => 'default_',
'users' => $my_db_users,
'sessions' => $my_db_users,
'role' => $my_db_users,
'authmap' => $my_db_users,
),
'collation' => 'utf8_general_ci',
);
In the above instance, we have set a variable $my_db_users to be equal to the database and table prefix of the location of the shared user data.
We then set the default table prefix 'default' => 'default_', which says: "store all tables, unless otherwise specified, in defaultdatabase and make their table prefix default_." We're also saying: "store all users, sessions, roles, and user-role mappings (authmap) in the database dbusers with the table prefix shared_."
A slight twist:
Consider removing the 'authmap' => $my_db_users, line. If you do this you could have the same users and groups accross a large network of sites while still allowing users different permissions on different sites. On one site you may be an administrator, but on another you'd be an author.