require 'sinatra'
require 'active_record'

ActiveRecord::Base.establish_connection(
     :adapter => "mysql", host => $DB_HOSTNAME,
     :database => $DB_NAME,:username => $DB_USERNAME,:password => $DB_PASSWORD)

class Sometable < ActiveRecord::Base
end

get '/' do
  #stuff with Sometable
end

# a lot of route handlers..

#prevent MySQL server has gone away by verifying connections every 30 minutes.
Thread.new {
  loop {
    sleep(60*30);
    ActiveRecord::Base.verify_active_connections!
  }
}.priority = -10