Thin application servers comprised of computer hardware and software for the operation thereof, special-purpose computers, server computers, load-balancing database computer hardware and software, special purpose computers for scalable database management applications, all in the field of multi-tier computing and data processing; Computer systems, namely, turn-key computers comprising computer hardware and operating software; Computer hardware, namely, micro-controllers, integrated circuits, computer processors, central processing units, computer motherboards, computer memories, network interfaces, network interface cards, host bus adapter cards, computer hard disk drives, computer compact disk drives, computer floppy disk drives, storage towers, and redundant array of independent disks (RAID); Thin application servers comprised of computer hardware and software for the operation thereof and special purpose computers for storing, retrieving and managing data for database management systems; Thin application servers comprising computer hardware, operating system software and computer programs, for database management, for storing, retrieving and managing data, for managing databases stored on server appliances, for conducting electronic transactions, namely, sending and receiving electronic mail, making financial transactions, ordering goods on-line, providing automated support of computer hardware and software on-line, transmitting media content on-line, storing and retrieving data on-line, for providing high-availability, scalability, and for enhancing the performance of database management systems; Thin application servers comprised of computer hardware and software for the operation thereof for load balancing of database management systems; Thin application servers comprised of computer hardware and software for the operation thereof for storing, retrieving and managing data for database management systems in the fields of business, scientific, technical, commercial, educational and computing; Thin application servers comprised of computer hardware and software for the operation thereof for providing high-availability, scalability, performance, low overhead of setup, management, and maintenance for database management systems independent of the choice of database systems