On Tue, Jan 31, 2006 at 01:23:12PM -0800, Tyler MacDonald wrote:
> Apache::DBI and DBI's connect_cached both claim to keep your database
> handles fresh and happy, but I've had numerous problems trying to get either
> of them to work properly. If a database connection is dropped, sometimes I'd
> have to refresh the page two or three times before the "internal server
> error" goes away and my webpages are happily reconnected to the database
> again.
>
> Part of the problem seems to be that disconnecting a database handle doesn't
> always remove it from {CachedKids}. At least, in the case where DBI thinks
> it's already disconnected, it doesnt bother removing it.
It shouldn't need to because the DBI's connect_cached() only returns a
handle if it's Active and ping() returns true. Neither should be true
for a disconnected handle.
Apache::DBI::connect also checks the cached handle using ping. The ping
can be tuned via Apache::DBI->setPingTimeOut so it's only called once
every few seconds. Perhaps some code somewhere has done that and that's
why you're seeing problems.
> Anyways, here's what I've done to solve the problem (i'm using postgres):
>
> - always use connect_cached, don't use Apache::DBI
connect_cached actually calls Apache::DBI::connect behind the scenes
if Apache::DBI is loaded first (as per the docs).
> - use this as my PerlPostConfigHandler:
> [...]
> - use this as my PerlPreConnectionHandler:
> [...]
Seems like hack without actually identifying the source of any problem
in the existing DBI or Apache::DBI code.
With a little more digging I'm sure you could identify _why_
Apache::DBI::connect
is giving you back a dead handle. Fixing that would 'help save the world' for
countless other users. Can you try that?
Tim.
