[Pgpool-general] question about total postgresql connections = num_init_children*max_pool

[jakeo at urbanverb.com]

Greetings all,

I have a question regarding the num_init_children & max_pool configuration
in pgpool.conf.

Our databases are configured to accept 300 max connections each. We have
four webservers each running pgpool II.

The pgpool.conf has:

num_init_children = 75
max_pool = 4

Our web application runs all connections under the same user.

My understanding is that we'll keep maximum number of 75 connections open
from each webserver to each database server. In a simple script, this
verifies as true.

(1) The question is, which user (OS or Postgres) is the user that opens a
new pool?

(2) In my configuration, if I were to make new connections with a new user
in (1) I could potentially go over my max connections set in Postgres,
correct?

(3) What are the ideal settings if I'm making all connections through one
user?

Sorry for being long-winded, and thanks in advance for any help you can
provide.

--jake