1. A system for managing nodes in a data grid from within an application server, comprising: a data grid including a plurality of nodes wherein each node in the data grid has, node attributes that define node functionality, a node manager configured for modifying the node attributes, and a unique identifier for identifying the node; a computer which includes an application server; a configuration repository provided by the application server and accessible to the administrative user interface, wherein the configuration repository stores node attributes for said plurality of nodes; an administrative user interface provided on the application server wherein the administrative user interface is configured to display configuration information based on said node attributes to an administrative user and is configured to allow the administrative user to modify the node attributes stored in said configuration repository; a node manager client provided on the application server and coupled to the node managers of said plurality of nodes; wherein in response to modification of node attributes stored on the configuration repository for a node having a particular unique identifier, the node manager client communicates modified node attributes to the node manager for the node having the particular unique identifier, and the node manager overrides the node attributes for the node having the particular unique identifier with the modified node attributes; and whereby the administrative user is enable to directly manage configuration of the plurality of nodes of the data grid from the administrative user interface of the application server.