what is correct way to use mod_perl2, Apache2, and DBI?

[Matthew]

Hey guys,
 mod_perl newbie here. Our web app was written a year ago as a regular 
CGI. Now that it gets accessed close to 1000 times a day (business 
grows) I saw the need to rewrite it using mod_perl2 as a "handler".

 I'm trying to use mod_perl-2.0.2 and apache 2.0.55. There isn't much 
documentation on mp2 as far as "what is right/standard" and google 
hasn't been much help so I've come here.

 I basically wanted to see if someone could 'glance over' my setup and 
offer any pointers.  Also, if there is any documentation on how to 
correctly use Apache::DBI with mod_perl2 and apache2, that would be 
great cause even though I'm "use Apache::DBI", my connections aren't 
being cached.

Technically, everything works fine: no perl warnings, pages load 
blazingly fast..except the DBI caching.

Thanks alot.
-Matthew

Here's in my httpd.conf:
--------------------------
PerlModule      Apache2::Reload
PerlInitHandler Apache2::Reload
PerlSetVar      ReloadAll Off
PerlRequire     /home/someone/public_html/sec/startup.pl
<Location /sec/v2>
        SetHandler              perl-script
        PerlResponseHandler     someone::v2
</Location>

We make frequent modifications to the script so Apache2::Reload helps 
keep us from having to restart apache each time.

My startup.pl
---------------------------
use CGI;
use Date::Format;
use HTML::Template;
use Time::HiRes qw(gettimeofday);

use Apache2::RequestRec();
use Apache2::RequestIO();
use Apache2::Const -compile => ':common';
use Apache2::Cookie();

use lib qw(/home/someone/public_html/sec/);

use Apache::DBI;  // this aint working right

1;

And inside someone/v2.pm
------------------------------
package someone::v2;

use strict;
use warnings;

use Apache2::Reload;

use vars qw($q $r $dbh $template $sql);

sub handler {
        $r = shift;
        $q = CGI->new();

        .. DBI init..Template init..

        return Apache2::Const::OK;
}
..more subs..