Check out CPAN - there are modules for helping run and manage children :
- Parallel::ForkManager (one of the simplest)
- Parallel::Forker (allows a lot more fine grained control)
- There are a lot of others too, which may suit your needs more or less, so take time to browse...
There are also a number of IPC modules :
- perlipc has a lot more details
- e.g. IPC::Shareable
I have had good results with this one, but there are a lot others and I might be a bit out of date!
Hope this helps - let us know if you get a bit further and still have problems/questions!
Just a something something...