Greetings,

 I have an application running on SQL Server 2005 (64 bit edition).  The website has no traffic, just some occasional testing by me. 

I've noticed the user connections (performance counters > Sql Server General Statistics > User Connections) never drops below 40 after I run through my site a few times.

I *am* using SQLCacheDependencies pretty aggressively in certain areas using this function:

1    public static DataTable GetDataTable(string strSprocName, SqlParameter[] Params, object[] Values, string cacheKey)
2        {
3            SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection();
4            SqlCommand cmd = new SqlCommand();
5            string isCacheEnabled = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["DataTableCaching"].ToString().ToLower();
6            bool cacheEnabled = isCacheEnabled == "false" ? false : true;
7    
8            try
9            {
10               //first check the cache...
11               DataTable dt = new DataTable();
12               if (!string.IsNullOrEmpty(cacheKey))
13               {
14                   //if it IS in the cache..grab it and return..
15                   if (HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey] != null && cacheEnabled)
16                   {
17                       dt = (DataTable)HttpRuntime.Cache[cacheKey];
18                       #if DEBUG
19                           Utils.LogHere("SPROC Found " + cacheKey);
20                       #endif
21                       return dt;
22                   }
23   
24                   conn.ConnectionString = _Connection;
25                   cmd.CommandType = CommandType.StoredProcedure;
26                   cmd.CommandText = strSprocName;
27                   cmd.Connection = conn;
28                   conn.Open();
29   
30                   for (int i = 0; i < Params.Length; i++)
31                   {
32                       cmd.Parameters.Add(Params[i]).Value = Values[i];
33                   }
34                   SqlDataAdapter adapter = new SqlDataAdapter(cmd);
35                   if (cacheEnabled)
36                   {
37                       SqlCacheDependency scd = new SqlCacheDependency(cmd);
38                       adapter.Fill(dt);
39                       adapter.Dispose();
40   
41                       //insert it into the chache
42                       if (dt.Rows.Count > 0 && cacheEnabled)
43                       {
44                           HttpRuntime.Cache.Insert(cacheKey, dt, scd);
45   #if DEBUG
46                           Utils.LogHere("SPROC Inserted " + cacheKey);
47   #endif
48                       }
49   
50                   }
51                   else
52                   {
53                       adapter.Fill(dt);
54                       adapter.Dispose();
55                   }
56   
57                   return dt;
58               }
59               else
60               {
61                   throw new Exception("Cache key required");   
62               }
63           }
64           catch (Exception ex)
65           {
66               throw ex;
67               //HttpContext.Current.Response.Redirect("Error.aspx");
68               //return null;
69           }
70           finally
71           {
72               cmd.Dispose();
73               conn.Close();
74               conn.Dispose();
75           }
76       }
77   

I'm wondering if for every depdency I create, does a separate user connection get created and held open until the server restarts?  
Does anyone know of any good resources I can read up on user connections, I can't seem to find much information in what are acceptable values

Is there anything else I should be doing with my SqlCacheDependencies? Do I have to put anything in my Application_End event to close them off?