You need to use Apache::DBI, which requires nothing but a few substitutions in your apache config and source; this will maintain a persistent connection to a database for all DBI-based perl scripts run by apache.

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Dr. Michael K. Neylon - mneylon-pm@masemware.com || "You've left the lens cap of your mind on again, Pinky" - The Brain
It's not what you know, but knowing how to find it if you don't know that's important