fied address, if the system is configured for this. 11 Configuration Management One of the two BE servers which is running as the primary server periodically updates the database with the current status of "alive" or "failed". The periodic interval in which the primary server must update the database regarding its pres- ence is known as the "heart beat interval". The standby BE server checks the database at regular intervals to ascertain whether or not the primary server is running. The periodic interval in which the standby server checks the database is the "fail-over interval". When the primary server fails, the standby server detects it and double-checks whether or not the primary BE server has failed. If the primary server fails, then the standby server takes over the role of primary server and re-starts the management services. At this moment, the FE servers switch their connection over to the standby server. Clients connected to the FE servers continue to receive service without knowledge of the fail-over. The FE server acts as a link between the BE and the client. Whenever the server is started, one FE starts along with the BE and standalone FEs can also be started. When the client makes a "read only" request, the FE gains direct access to the data- base. When the client's request involves a write operation, the request is routed via the BE server. If the FE server to which a client is connected fails, then the client will lose its connection and must reconnect to another FE server. The FE server fail-over mechanism is designed to overcome this problem by enabling the client to be connected automatically to some other FE server to ensure continuity of operation. The FE server fail-over has been designed such that a list of FEs along with their properties is maintained in the BE and during startup all clients receive this list. The FE server properties that are maintained in the list include host name, mode of con- nection between the FE and client, web server port of FE, secondary port of FE and secondary 