Just some more thoughts on this. For really heavy loads (> 20 hits per second), you really need to use an embeded solution, CGI won't cut it. Thankfully, if you are getting those sorts of loads, you will be on a dedicated server, and will have some options (there is no way a virtual would handle that).
CGI involves: IIS launching a new process, loading perl into memory, loading the program and it's libraries, compiling the program, connecting to the database, and running the program.
Embeded technolgies like mod_perl, SpeedyCGI or PerlEx all work the same. They keep perl and your program in memory, compiled and connected to the database at all times. Often they are part of IIS/Apache and running your program is just like running a part of the web server. With mod_perl you can see a 20-300x increase in performance and load handling.
If you'd like some help making this work, please feel free to drop me a line and we can discuss some solutions.
Cheers,
Alex
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