MySQL keeps getting “connect” commands 100X per minute!
I would check / verify if there is a init_connect option in your my.cnf, if so that would be a great place to start to see what the var is set to.

Also:

While the server is running, in terminal, run:

ps -aef | grep mysql


and identify the user(s) that are running processes up against mysql. If you end up seeing a sort of trend in the processes than grep out the parent processes for each child process to get to the route PID that is engaging.

Also:

If this MySQL instance is not in production, I would suggest a server restart as well. We all know MySQL can be finicky and in many cases a clean restart clears up buggy issues.

Side note: Is there a proxy in front of your MySQL server? If so, I would look into this layer just as intensive as the database.

Gluck! Cheers.