my $FileHandle = Apache::File->new();
my $XMLParser = XML::Simple->new();

{
    $FileHandle->open( "$ENV{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/config/database.xml" );
    my $XML = $XMLParser->XMLin( $FileHandle );
    my $dsn = "DBI:mysql:database=$XML->{database};host=$XML->{host};port=$XML->{port}";
    $dbh = DBI->connect( $dsn, $XML->{user}, $XML->{password} );
}