this invention relates to methods and apparatus for providing a resilient network database . the invention relates particularly , but not exclusively , to the ip multimedia subsystem . the invention is directed to an interface for a database node comprising : a port for receiving a request for information from a network node ; a processor for determining if the database node can respond to said request ; and a transmitter for forwarding the request to another database node if the particular database node cannot respond . the invention is also directed to a distributed database comprising a number of database nodes , wherein a request received by one node is forwarded to other nodes in the distributed database if the particular node cannot handle the request .