my ASP.NET application reads an xml file to determine which environment it's currently in (e.g. local, development, production). It checks this file every single time it opens a connection to the database, in order to know which connection string to grab from the Application Settings. I'm entering a phase of development where efficiency is becoming a concern. I don't think it's a good idea to have to read a file on a physical disk ever single time I wish to access the database (very often). I was considering storing the connection string in Application["ConnectionString"]. So the code would be public static string GetConnectionString { if (Application["ConnectionString"] == null) { XmlDocument doc = new XmlDocument(); doc.Load(HttpContext.Current.Request.PhysicalApplicationPath + "bin/ServerEnvironment.xml"); XmlElement xe = (XmlElement) xnl[0]; switch (xe.InnerText.ToString().ToLower()) { case "local": connString = Settings.Default.ConnectionStringLocal; break; case "development": connString = Settings.Default.ConnectionStringDevelopment; break; case "production": connString = Settings.Default.ConnectionStringProduction; break; default: throw new Exception("no connection string defined"); } Application["ConnectionString"] = connString; } return Application["ConnectionString"].ToString(); } I didn't design the application so I figure there must have been a reason for reading the xml file every time (to change settings while the application runs?) I have very little concept of the inner workings here. What are the pros and cons? Do you think I'd see a small performance gain by implementing the function above? THANKS