Not sure if this question was previously asked, but I cannot seem to find the answer.

Where does one store the properties when loaded in a webapp.
I have a web application which has settings to allow system administrators via a user interface to change settings in the app.

For example the app allows only selected user groups to be able to go a certain page.
I wanted to allow system admins to go in and set the user groups that can go to the above mentioned page, and then change it at a later date.

The issue I'm facing is that once loaded the properties file, where do I store the data rather than continuously loading the properties file each time a user goes into the page.

I'm probably not getting the full concept of how properties are used so any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Just make sure I can read the user groups in, can change the user groups without reloading the class/app and allow it to be thread safe and quick without two different threads having two different properties because we are using a load balanced environment. With a content share which is where the properties files are stored and accessed (not having any issues with this so not looking for help with where to store the properties file).

Any help greatly appreciated.

**EDIT 1**

The application runs on a clustered environment which means that other application servers could potentially have different values due to multiple ServletContexts.