Scaling out memcached

[Batara Kesuma]

Hi,

I have been using memcached for a few months, and very happy with its
performance. Recently I just added some more mod_perl machines, we now
have about 25 mod_perl, with each server running 50 processes. I just
realized that memcached server has 1024 max connection limit, and I just
bumped into this limit. 

Adding more memcached server is useless because each memcached server
has to hold persistent connections with all mod_perl servers x
processes.  It means that each memcached server has to hold 25 x 50 = 
1250 connections.

Is it better to set higher value (say 2048) for max connection, or is it
better to stop using persistent connection? Is it possible to use normal
connection instead of persistent connection? What about the cost
penalty?