Faster CGI Programs (Apache: The Definitive Guide)

12.4. Faster CGI Programs

Perl CGIs can be sped up considerably by using the http://www.osf.org/~dougm/apache/ modules, which build a Perl interpreter into the Apache executable and, optionally, allow scripts to start up when the server starts.

Alternatively, the http://www.fastcgi.com/ module implements FastCGI on Apache, giving much better performance from a CGI-like protocol.