> Is there any merit to periodically physically closing connections?
> Other connection pools I have worked with would have a setting that
> would set the maximum time a physical connection can be open.

Sure, to deallocate any prepared statement in order to decrease the
performance, to deallocate page cache on the server to increase number of
page fetches. But most likely this is just a workaround to handle memory
leaks on the server. This would do the trick for CS, but not for SS.

Personally I see no reason to close the connection physically. There are a
maxIdleTime and minPoolSize parameters. Those connections that are not used
will be released by idle remover. BTW, if you're there, can you check how do
we re-use connections - MRU or LRU (it should be MRU, if it's not, we have
to change it)?

On the other side, I do not object to this functionality in our pool if
somebody needs it and is willing to implement it.

Roman