diff --git a/doc/release-notes/12241-simple db connector.md b/doc/release-notes/12241-simple db connector.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..daa3cc57cb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/release-notes/12241-simple db connector.md	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+This version of Dataverse changes the class used for connecting with Postgres. This should help avoid problems seen under high load and potentially improve performance. See #12241 for details.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/doc/sphinx-guides/source/installation/config.rst b/doc/sphinx-guides/source/installation/config.rst
index e5ed52acb83..9d47aa71aaf 100644
--- a/doc/sphinx-guides/source/installation/config.rst
+++ b/doc/sphinx-guides/source/installation/config.rst
@@ -949,6 +949,9 @@ Connection Validation
    * - dataverse.db.validate-atmost-once-period-in-seconds
      - Specifies the time interval in seconds between successive requests to validate a connection at most once.
      - ``0`` (disabled)
+   * - dataverse.db.fail-all-connections
+     - When true, refreshes all connections when one fails, speeding recover vs. detecting and refreshing connections individually.
+     - ``true`` (enabled)
 
 Connection & Statement Leaks
 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
diff --git a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/DataSourceProducer.java b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/DataSourceProducer.java
index 62cd318706f..5816d8edd91 100644
--- a/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/DataSourceProducer.java
+++ b/src/main/java/edu/harvard/iq/dataverse/util/DataSourceProducer.java
@@ -12,10 +12,8 @@
         name = "java:app/jdbc/dataverse",
         // The app server (Payara) deploys a managed pool for this data source for us.
         // We don't need to deal with this on our own.
-        //
-        // HINT: PGSimpleDataSource would work too, but as we use a connection pool, go with a javax.sql.ConnectionPoolDataSource
-        // HINT: PGXADataSource is unnecessary (no distributed transactions used) and breaks ingest.
-        className = "org.postgresql.ds.PGConnectionPoolDataSource",
+
+        className = "org.postgresql.ds.PGSimpleDataSource",
         
         // BEWARE: as this resource is created before defaults are read from META-INF/microprofile-config.properties,
         // defaults must be provided in this Payara-proprietary manner.
@@ -48,6 +46,7 @@
             "fish.payara.validation-table-name=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.validation-table-name:}",
             "fish.payara.validation-classname=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.validation-classname:}",
             "fish.payara.validate-atmost-once-period-in-seconds=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.validate-atmost-once-period-in-seconds:0}",
+            "fish.payara.fail-all-connections=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.fail-all-connections:true}",
             // LEAK DETECTION
             "fish.payara.connection-leak-timeout-in-seconds=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.connection-leak-timeout-in-seconds:0}",
             "fish.payara.connection-leak-reclaim=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.connection-leak-reclaim:false}",
@@ -57,6 +56,7 @@
             "fish.payara.statement-timeout-in-seconds=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.statement-timeout-in-seconds:-1}",
             "fish.payara.slow-query-threshold-in-seconds=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.slow-query-threshold-in-seconds:-1}",
             "fish.payara.log-jdbc-calls=${MPCONFIG=dataverse.db.log-jdbc-calls:false}"
+
         })
 public class DataSourceProducer {