handling database connection issues

I have some code that needs to retry whenever it cannot make a database connection, for example 20 times for each login. The website has dozens of users, what would be the best way to handle this? I was thinking of using a counter but as multiple users will be logged on at the same time perhaps some threading would be required, which I am unfamiliar with.

EDIT :

I get the error 'method name expected' on the line where I am instantiating the Thread object. Here is my code :

private static List<Field.Info> FromDatabase(this Int32 _campId)
    {
        List<Field.Info&开发者_如何学JAVAgt; lstFields = new List<Field.Info>();

        Field.List.Response response = new Field.List.Ticket
        {
            campId = _campId
        }.Commit();

        if (response.status == Field.List.Status.success)
        {
            lstFields = response.fields;
            lock (campIdLock)
            {
                loadedCampIds.Add(_campId);
            }
        }

        if (response.status == Field.List.Status.retry)
        {
            Thread th1 = new Thread(new ThreadStart(FromDatabase(_campId)));

            FromDatabase(_campId);
        }

        return lstFields;
    }

My approach would be an event, which increments the counter and calls an asynchronous methode if counter <= 20. Then i would block the current thread and wait for the connection result.

To thread-safe increment your counter use

Interlocked.Increment(ref int counter);