optimizing mysql with php

What settings should I have if I would like to optimize PHP without exhausting my MySQL db? There is the mysql.max_persistent setting, which is on a per process level. Should I set this low, to 10 perhaps? If it's unlimited, PHP will just eat up another persistent connection until MySQL is exhausted. If I lower it, PHP will reuse the old ones. I have set the MySQL setting to set-variable = max_connections=255 which should not be succeeded. MaxSpareServers is 25 in my Apache. Which should result in the 10 setting for PHP, right? Since 10*25 = 250. Is this the correct reasoning behind this setting? Are there any other Apache/PHP-related settings I should think about? -- patrik wallstrom | system design tel: +46-8-7298810 | sonox.com gsm: +46-708405080 | - - - - - - - - - fax: +46-859820060 | a division of new media distribution