I'm afraid there is no simple way to share database connections between different (plain) CGI processes. You could use something like DBI::ProxyServer or POE::Component::EasyDBI, for example, to implement a stand-alone connection pool manager for your CGI processes, but I wouldn't recommend it. In persistent environments like FastCGI or mod_perl, however, it is possible (and actually quite easy) to reuse DBI database handles on a per process basis. Take a look at Apache::DBI for inspiration.