Even if the rest of your app doesn't need mod_perl for performance, this part may. The whole purpose of mod_perl is to save time through persistence inside an apache instance. Using mod_perl, it is easy to keep the connection open from hit to hit. And to pool connections in all sorts of ways.

Even though I haven't used LDAP, it seems from your description that it is similar in spirit to a database in that a client opens a connection to the server. Building that connection takes time and eventually becomes a bottlenck.

Apache::DBI could serve as a code modle for an Apache::LDAP if one does not already exist. Having written the last sentence, I went to search cpan and found Apache::AuthenLDAP and its cousin Apache::AuthzLDAP. These might be just what you need, or another model for your own code.

Phil