>Storing connection strings at the global level and reading them once on startup shouldn't cause any problem. And you've confirmed that the connection is always scoped to the DataProvider class (and presumably the DataProvider class is instantiated on every hit ?).
>That still leaves my second question unanswered:
>Are there *any* references to connections held in, or referenced from, oApp?
>(Including possible indirect ones via .DataProvider etc.

Yes, that is correct. The application object uses its Initialize() method to read the configuration file parameters. Everything is then stored in oApp.aConnection(1), which is an array of each connection strings. I only use one presently. Then, oProcess is created at every hit. When needed, oProcess creates data provider objects. There are no data provider objects created at the oApp level. However, I will verify again to make sure all data provider objects are created within the oProcess scope and not into oApp.