Udo Schwedt is head of the Java architecture team and deputy head of the Java development department at the IT service provider for Germany's market leader in the Do-It-Yourself sector. After finishing his studies at RWTH Aachen, Germany with a degree in Computer Science, he started his career as a professional Java developer in a leading software company in the banking sector. In 2003, he joined his current company as a framework developer, subsequently taking the role of a lead architect.Both authors are involved in a large scale international software project, which encompasses development of a Java-based merchandise management software solution. This decentralized multi-platform environment is based on more than 500 decentralized MySQL server instances with more than 5,500 replication slaves. Daniel and Udo are responsible for configuration and management of this infrastructure.