The SQL Anywhere .NET Data Provider supports native .NET connection pooling. Connection pooling allows your application to reuse existing connections by saving the connection handle to a pool so it can be reused, rather than repeatedly creating a new connection to the database. Connection pooling is turned on by default.

The pool size is set in your connection string using the POOLING option. The default maximum pool size is 100, while the default minimum pool size is 0. You can specify the minimum and maximum pool sizes. For example:

"Data Source=SQL Anywhere 12 Demo;POOLING=TRUE;Max Pool Size=50;Min Pool Size=5"

When your application first attempts to connect to the database, it checks the pool for an existing connection that uses the same connection parameters you have specified. If a matching connection is found, that connection is used. Otherwise, a new connection is used. When you disconnect, the connection is returned to the pool so that it can be reused.

The SQL Anywhere database server also supports connection pooling. This feature is controlled using the ConnectionPool (CPOOL) connection parameter. However, the SQL Anywhere .NET Data Provider does not use this server feature and disables it (CPOOL=NO). All connection pooling is done in the .NET client application instead (client-side connection pooling).

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