GAIAN Database (hereafter referred to as GaianDB) is a small (four-megabyte) dynamic distributed federated database (DDFD) that was written in Java™. GaianDB is an extension to Apache Derby that federates heterogenous back-end data sources (RDBMS databases, files, text indexes, and so on) using a logical table abstraction layer. However, its principal feature is its ability to autonomically discover and federate other GaianDBs, federating nodes such that a whole network of nodes can be formed. Its connectivity model is “biologically inspired” in that it strives to minimize network diameter and maximize connections to the most fit nodes. GaianDB advocates a flexible “store locally, query anywhere” (SLQA) paradigm.