sub getConn {
  my ($DB,$pwd) = @_;

  my $count = 0;
  my $dbhParm;
  my $USER = 'sa';
  my $api  = 'Sybase';

  while(!$dbhParm) {
    if (! ($dbhParm = DBI->connect("dbi:$api:${DB}", $USER, $pwd, {PrintError => 0}))) {
        warn "Can't connect to ${DB} as \"$USER\"\n$DBI::errstr... Retry after 1 seconds\n";
        sleep (1);
        $count++;
        if ($count > 2) {
            print "Connection to the database, ${DB} could not be established";
        }
    }
    last if ($count > 2);  # Give up after three tries
  }

  return $dbhParm;
}