[mapserver-users] Layer with over 6000 shapefiles

[EVANS, JAMES R GS-13 USAF ACC 84 RADES/SCZE]

Hi,
Is there a way to add a layer that points to 6000 some odd shapefiles?  I've created a set of contour files for the whole world, and when I had the info in a single shapefile it was about 260GBs.  Mapserver would serve it up, but performance was horrible.  I now have the set broken up into about 6000 separate shapefiles, but don't know how to address that in a single layer.  I tried using gdaltindex, to create a single index file that points to all the other shapefiles, but I get an error saying the shapefiles are an unsupported type.  Is there some other way to create an index that Mapserver can use to point to this many shapefiles?
Thanks,
James