diff --git a/Gopkg.lock b/Gopkg.lock
index 598968b2f9..1ade27568a 100644
--- a/Gopkg.lock
+++ b/Gopkg.lock
@@ -303,7 +303,10 @@
 
 [[projects]]
   name = "github.com/ory/sqlcon"
-  packages = ["dockertest"]
+  packages = [
+    ".",
+    "dockertest"
+  ]
   revision = "08e1c6762dd59c776a735acc134889f757574f66"
   version = "v0.0.2"
 
@@ -538,6 +541,6 @@
 [solve-meta]
   analyzer-name = "dep"
   analyzer-version = 1
-  inputs-digest = "c0c8c5a4c4edd1c90ad7a45b25b66d7e2d3540c4715c8ba25e494d26a6e13516"
+  inputs-digest = "833b7210006d4fa0e660d0cfccd5335656fb8c27d1700cf4b8d1490fa8b40e02"
   solver-name = "gps-cdcl"
   solver-version = 1
diff --git a/cmd/helper_sql.go b/cmd/helper_sql.go
index ae0d1f8848..0d868c0193 100644
--- a/cmd/helper_sql.go
+++ b/cmd/helper_sql.go
@@ -21,61 +21,45 @@
 package cmd
 
 import (
-	"runtime"
-	"time"
-
 	"net/url"
 
 	"github.com/jmoiron/sqlx"
 	"github.com/ory/oathkeeper/rule"
+	"github.com/ory/sqlcon"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 )
 
-func connectToSql(url string) (*sqlx.DB, error) {
-	db, err := sqlx.Open("postgres", url)
+func connectToSql(dburl string) (*sqlx.DB, error) {
+	u, err := url.Parse(dburl)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, errors.WithStack(err)
+		logger.Fatalf("Could not parse DATABASE_URL: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	maxConns := maxParallelism() * 2
-	maxConnLifetime := time.Duration(0)
-	maxIdleConns := maxParallelism()
-	db.SetMaxOpenConns(maxConns)
-	db.SetMaxIdleConns(maxIdleConns)
-	db.SetConnMaxLifetime(maxConnLifetime)
-	return db, nil
-}
-
-func maxParallelism() int {
-	maxProcs := runtime.GOMAXPROCS(0)
-	numCPU := runtime.NumCPU()
-	if maxProcs < numCPU {
-		return maxProcs
+	switch u.Scheme {
+	case "postgres":
+		fallthrough
+	case "mysql":
+		connection, err := sqlcon.NewSQLConnection(dburl, logger)
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.WithError(err).Fatalf(`Unable to initialize SQL connection`)
+		}
+		return connection.GetDatabase(), nil
 	}
-	return numCPU
+
+	return nil, errors.Errorf(`Unknown DSN "%s" in DATABASE_URL: %s`, u.Scheme, dburl)
 }
 
-func newRuleManager(db string) (rule.Manager, error) {
-	if db == "memory" {
+func newRuleManager(dburl string) (rule.Manager, error) {
+	if dburl == "memory" {
 		return &rule.MemoryManager{Rules: map[string]rule.Rule{}}, nil
-	} else if db == "" {
+	} else if dburl == "" {
 		return nil, errors.New("No database URL provided")
 	}
 
-	u, err := url.Parse(db)
+	db, err := connectToSql(dburl)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.WithStack(err)
 	}
 
-	switch u.Scheme {
-	case "postgres":
-		db, err := connectToSql(db)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, errors.WithStack(err)
-		}
-
-		return rule.NewSQLManager(db), nil
-	}
-
-	return nil, errors.Errorf("The provided database URL %s can not be handled", db)
+	return rule.NewSQLManager(db), nil
 }