So, let's turn off ssl in the *postgresql.conf* file and try again. Better, but another look at the callgraph shows we are still spending 10% of our time connecting to the database and more time tearing the connection back down. 'pgsql', 'db_user' => 'nobody', 'db_pwd' => 'foobar', 'db_host' => 'localhost', 'db_db' => 'users', 'db_opts' => array(PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION => true, PDO::ATTR_PERSISTENT => true) ); ?>]]> Ok, we are down to only needing 5 servers now.