Abstract: For use during maintenance of wide area networks, a management system is disclosed for distributing security databases to security gates at each maintenance port of each network element. A distributed database manager is provided to instantaneously update the databases and gather from each database transaction records. Central to the distributed database manager is a software program that polls the security databases located at each of the network elements, deposits updated databases, and formats various management reports from transaction records and from device failure records (generated by the program). The software program enables the database manager to communicate with the network elements through either an in-band channel or an out-of-band channel. By shifting authentication of access seekers to security databases resident at each console port, security is maintained even though the network server is not in service.