mysql help please !

[admin]

I got 29 clients running database, each having from 3 to 50 tables, all on one server ... its a good machine ... well kindda...

Pentium II 300mhz
320 RAM
2X SCSI 9.1GB
EtherPro 10/100

Since about two weeks now, we have got many <too many connection> errors, are is how I started up mysql since those error occured (gotten from a suggested configuration, from the mysql documentation).

-O key_buffer=64M -O table_cache=256 -O sort_buffer=4M -O record_buffer=1M -O max_connections=200 &

Since then, i decided to monitor the 'health' of our mysql server every 15 minutes. Look at this report, from mysqladmin extended-result query, every 15 minutes, from 8:00pm to 8:30pm ...

8:00 pm

+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| Aborted_clients | 0 |
| Aborted_connects | 18 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 4 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_delete | 2 |
| Handler_read_first | 37 |
| Handler_read_key | 296 |
| Handler_read_next | 9174 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 34038 |
| Handler_update | 29 |
| Handler_write | 50 |
| Key_blocks_used | 41 |
| Key_read_requests | 1158 |
| Key_reads | 41 |
| Key_write_requests | 17 |
| Key_writes | 16 |
| Max_used_connections | 39 |
| Not_flushed_key_blocks | 0 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_tables | 34 |
| Open_files | 68 |
| Open_streams | 1 |
| Opened_tables | 38 |
| Questions | 1017 |
| Running_threads | 39 |
| Slow_queries | 0 |
| Uptime | 10311 |
+--------------------------+-------+

8:15 pm

+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| Aborted_clients | 0 |
| Aborted_connects | 20 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 4 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_delete | 2 |
| Handler_read_first | 40 |
| Handler_read_key | 311 |
| Handler_read_next | 9459 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 36855 |
| Handler_update | 29 |
| Handler_write | 50 |
| Key_blocks_used | 42 |
| Key_read_requests | 1227 |
| Key_reads | 42 |
| Key_write_requests | 17 |
| Key_writes | 16 |
| Max_used_connections | 44 |
| Not_flushed_key_blocks | 0 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_tables | 34 |
| Open_files | 68 |
| Open_streams | 1 |
| Opened_tables | 38 |
| Questions | 1081 |
| Running_threads | 45 |
| Slow_queries | 0 |
| Uptime | 11210 |
+--------------------------+-------+

8:30 pm

+--------------------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+-------+
| Aborted_clients | 0 |
| Aborted_connects | 21 |
| Created_tmp_tables | 7 |
| Delayed_insert_threads | 0 |
| Delayed_writes | 0 |
| Delayed_errors | 0 |
| Flush_commands | 1 |
| Handler_delete | 2 |
| Handler_read_first | 68 |
| Handler_read_key | 351 |
| Handler_read_next | 9516 |
| Handler_read_rnd | 39448 |
| Handler_update | 35 |
| Handler_write | 59 |
| Key_blocks_used | 47 |
| Key_read_requests | 1284 |
| Key_reads | 47 |
| Key_write_requests | 17 |
| Key_writes | 16 |
| Max_used_connections | 49 |
| Not_flushed_key_blocks | 0 |
| Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0 |
| Open_tables | 40 |
| Open_files | 70 |
| Open_streams | 1 |
| Opened_tables | 44 |
| Questions | 1271 |
| Running_threads | 50 |
| Slow_queries | 0 |
| Uptime | 12110 |
+--------------------------+-------+

As you can see, the max_used_connections is growing and growing ... why ? Several other varaiables seams to be growing, but im no mysql expert, thus I cannot say if its good or bad =(

I really need some serious help on this one. I will be happy to provide any additionnal info you need to help mediagnose the problem further.

Thanks a lot.