diff --git a/checkin_notes b/checkin_notes
index 36d16844f9..b93649708e 100755
--- a/checkin_notes
+++ b/checkin_notes
@@ -2438,3 +2438,17 @@ Charlie 13 Mar 2007
         gui_rpc_server_ops.C
     clientgui/
         ViewProjectsGrid.cpp
+
+Matt 14 Mar 2007
+    - updated db_init and db_init_aux code in util.inc, db.inc to enable
+      possible use of replica (i.e. read-only) database (for pages that
+      lookup stats, print profiles, etc. but don't make any updates).
+      Implemented in top_{users,teams,hosts}.php
+
+    html/inc
+        db.inc
+        util.inc
+    html/user
+        top_users.php
+        top_hosts.php
+        top_teams.php
diff --git a/html/inc/db.inc b/html/inc/db.inc
index 505882d484..24242b7c76 100644
--- a/html/inc/db.inc
+++ b/html/inc/db.inc
@@ -5,11 +5,17 @@ require_once('../inc/util.inc');
 // database-related functions.
 // Presentation code (HTML) shouldn't be here
 
-function db_init_aux() {
+function db_init_aux($try_replica=false) {
     $config = get_config();
 	$user = parse_config($config, "<db_user>");
 	$pass = parse_config($config, "<db_passwd>");
-	$host = parse_config($config, "<db_host>");
+    $host = null;
+    if ($try_replica == true) {
+	  $host = parse_config($config, "<replica_db_host>");
+    }
+    if ($host == null) {
+  	  $host = parse_config($config, "<db_host>");
+    }
     if ($host == null) {
         $host = "localhost";
     }
diff --git a/html/inc/util.inc b/html/inc/util.inc
index 5d58fabbcf..01440bff84 100644
--- a/html/inc/util.inc
+++ b/html/inc/util.inc
@@ -8,7 +8,13 @@ require_once("../inc/translation.inc");
 
 $generating_xml = false;
 
-function db_init() {
+// db_init
+// Connects to database server and selects database as noted in config.xml
+// (Or, in some cases, if only read-only access is necessary, tries instead
+// to connect to replica database server noted in <replica_db_host> tag. If
+// this tag doesn't exist, db_init will revert to connecting to <db_host>.)
+//
+function db_init($try_replica=false) {
     if (web_stopped()) {
         page_head("Not available");
         echo "This page requires database access.
@@ -18,7 +24,7 @@ function db_init() {
         page_tail();
         exit();
     }
-    $retval = db_init_aux();
+    $retval = db_init_aux($try_replica);
     if ($retval == 1) {
         echo "Unable to connect to database - please try again later\n";
         echo "Error: ", mysql_errno(), mysql_error();
diff --git a/html/user/top_hosts.php b/html/user/top_hosts.php
index 7833764917..c143c228d3 100644
--- a/html/user/top_hosts.php
+++ b/html/user/top_hosts.php
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ if ($offset < 1000) {
 require_once("../inc/db.inc");
 require_once("../inc/host.inc");
 
-db_init();
+db_init(true);
 page_head("Top computers");
 if ($sort_by == "total_credit") {
     $sort_clause = "total_credit desc";
diff --git a/html/user/top_teams.php b/html/user/top_teams.php
index 1078708d6e..e1123e29cf 100644
--- a/html/user/top_teams.php
+++ b/html/user/top_teams.php
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ if ($offset < ITEM_LIMIT) {
     if ($cacheddata){ //If we have got the data in cache
         $data = store_to_teams($cacheddata); // use the cached data
     } else { //if not do queries etc to generate new data
-        db_init();
+        db_init(true);
         $data = get_top_teams($offset,$sort_by,$type);
         
         // We need to calculate nusers before storing into the cache
diff --git a/html/user/top_users.php b/html/user/top_users.php
index 9e40469b1b..45ca9a4abc 100644
--- a/html/user/top_users.php
+++ b/html/user/top_users.php
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ if ($offset < ITEM_LIMIT) {
     if ($cacheddata){ //If we have got the data in cache
 	$data = store_to_participants($cacheddata); // use the cached data
     } else { //if not do queries etc to generate new data
-	db_init();
+	db_init(true);
 	$data = get_top_participants($offset,$sort_by);
 	set_cache_data(participants_to_store($data),$cache_args); //save data in cache
     };