diff --git a/proxstar/__init__.py b/proxstar/__init__.py
index a6c3ae6..34b9cf0 100644
--- a/proxstar/__init__.py
+++ b/proxstar/__init__.py
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ from proxstar.vnc import (
 )
 from proxstar.auth import get_auth
 from proxstar.util import gen_password
+from proxstar.ldapdb import connect_ldap
 from proxstar.starrs import check_hostname, renew_ip
 from proxstar.proxmox import connect_proxmox, get_isos, get_pools, get_ignored_pools
 
@@ -82,6 +83,7 @@ engine = create_engine(app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'])
 Base.metadata.bind = engine
 DBSession = sessionmaker(bind=engine)
 db = DBSession()
+ldap_conn = connect_ldap()
 
 starrs = psycopg2.connect(
     "dbname='{}' user='{}' host='{}' password='{}'".format(
diff --git a/proxstar/ldapdb.py b/proxstar/ldapdb.py
index c737310..a0135fa 100644
--- a/proxstar/ldapdb.py
+++ b/proxstar/ldapdb.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
+from functools import lru_cache
 from csh_ldap import CSHLDAP
 from flask import current_app as app
 
-from proxstar import logging
+from proxstar import logging, ldap_conn
 
 
 def connect_ldap():
@@ -13,28 +14,28 @@ def connect_ldap():
     return ldap
 
 
+@lru_cache(maxsize=32)
 def is_rtp(user):
-    ldap = connect_ldap()
-    rtp_group = ldap.get_group('rtp')
-    return rtp_group.check_member(ldap.get_member(user, uid=True))
+    rtp_group = ldap_conn.get_group('rtp')
+    return rtp_group.check_member(ldap_conn.get_member(user, uid=True))
 
 
+@lru_cache(maxsize=32)
 def is_active(user):
-    ldap = connect_ldap()
-    active_group = ldap.get_group('active')
-    return active_group.check_member(ldap.get_member(user, uid=True))
+    active_group = ldap_conn.get_group('active')
+    return active_group.check_member(ldap_conn.get_member(user, uid=True))
 
 
+@lru_cache(maxsize=32)
 def is_current_student(user):
-    ldap = connect_ldap()
-    current_student_group = ldap.get_group('current_student')
-    return current_student_group.check_member(ldap.get_member(user, uid=True))
+    current_student_group = ldap_conn.get_group('current_student')
+    return current_student_group.check_member(ldap_conn.get_member(user, uid=True))
 
 
+@lru_cache(maxsize=32)
 def is_user(user):
-    ldap = connect_ldap()
     try:
-        ldap.get_member(user, uid=True)
+        ldap_conn.get_member(user, uid=True)
         return True
     except:
         return False
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index e198613..da58a4b 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 black~=20.8b1
-csh-ldap~=2.2.0
+csh-ldap~=2.3.0
 flask==1.0.2
 flask-pyoidc==1.3.0
 gunicorn==19.9.0