diff -r f2293e8566f5 -r c404a87db5b7 src/org/sonews/config/BackendConfig.java
--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/src/org/sonews/config/BackendConfig.java	Sun Aug 29 17:43:58 2010 +0200
@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+/*
+ *   SONEWS News Server
+ *   see AUTHORS for the list of contributors
+ *
+ *   This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ *   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ *   the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ *   (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ *   This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ *   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ *   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ *   GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ *   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ *   along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+package org.sonews.config;
+
+import java.util.logging.Level;
+import org.sonews.util.Log;
+import org.sonews.storage.StorageBackendException;
+import org.sonews.storage.StorageManager;
+import org.sonews.util.TimeoutMap;
+
+/**
+ * Provides access to the program wide configuration that is stored within
+ * the server's database.
+ * @author Christian Lins
+ * @since sonews/0.5.0
+ */
+class BackendConfig extends AbstractConfig
+{
+
+  private static BackendConfig instance = new BackendConfig();
+  
+  public static BackendConfig getInstance()
+  {
+    return instance;
+  }
+  
+  private final TimeoutMap<String, String> values 
+    = new TimeoutMap<String, String>();
+  
+  private BackendConfig()
+  {
+    super();
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Returns the config value for the given key or the defaultValue if the
+   * key is not found in config.
+   * @param key
+   * @param defaultValue
+   * @return
+   */
+  @Override
+  public String get(String key, String defaultValue)
+  {
+    try
+    {
+      String configValue = values.get(key);
+      if(configValue == null)
+      {
+        if(StorageManager.current() == null)
+        {
+          Log.get().warning("BackendConfig not available, using default.");
+          return defaultValue;
+        }
+
+        configValue = StorageManager.current().getConfigValue(key);
+        if(configValue == null)
+        {
+          return defaultValue;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+          values.put(key, configValue);
+          return configValue;
+        }
+      }
+      else
+      {
+        return configValue;
+      }
+    }
+    catch(StorageBackendException ex)
+    {
+      Log.get().log(Level.SEVERE, "Storage backend problem", ex);
+      return defaultValue;
+    }
+  }
+  
+  /**
+   * Sets the config value which is identified by the given key.
+   * @param key
+   * @param value
+   */
+  public void set(String key, String value)
+  {
+    values.put(key, value);
+    
+    try
+    {
+      // Write values to database
+      StorageManager.current().setConfigValue(key, value);
+    }
+    catch(StorageBackendException ex)
+    {
+      ex.printStackTrace();
+    }
+  }
+  
+}