It's not about stages. Both ejb deployers and client deployers should have the same stage configuration. It's about the client container (/ component) being dependent on stuff from a sister deployment unit. But the client container doesn't know which sister, or even if there is one. The only thing I can state for certain is that it wants to be last in line (sort of). It's the EAR deployment rules that are not being followed. Note that there is no EAR metadata, so we have to come up with the EAR deployment order. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4062827#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...