MySQL Connections Figure Constantly Grows

I have a LAMP (Fedora) server with a site (built using Zend Framework) and some perl scripts running on it. I noticed that the number of mysql connections is constantly growing, seen using the mysql command show status like "conn%".

I am just wondering is this normal? I assumed this figure would naturally go up and down as connections are opened and closed to the database, but this figure only seems to grow. A restart o开发者_如何学Gof the database resets it to zero.

Initially i thought it was my webapp not closing connections, but even when i open the MySQL Administrator GUI on the server and close it the connections number does not reduce, so i'm assuming now its a config setting on the database.

I haven;t come across any mysql max connection errors and the server is running fine, but am just wondering is this normal behavior and i'm misinterpreting the meaning of the connections figure?

Many thanks

Connections is the total number of connection attempts (successful or not) to the server since the last restart. Use SHOW STATUS LIKE "Threads_connected"; to see active connections. You can read about all status variables and their meaning in the MySQL documentation.

You can also see all open connections and currently running queries using SHOW PROCESSLIST;