While doing some DB tests, I noticed in the mysql logs that "select 1" validation queries were still being fired on each query, contrary to the documentation on Tuning Database Connections.

I didn't go away until I explicitly declared it false like so:

<pool-test-on-borrow>false</pool-test-on-borrow>
<pool-test-on-return>false</pool-test-on-return>

Other References:

• http://royontechnology.blogspot.com/2009/02/gotchas-with-dbcp.html