There is a DLM that's part of JGroups but it is somewhat unsupported (I didn't write it and the guy who did is too busy to support it): http://www.koders.com/java/fidC73888EED1C2ECCDD56AF33274914F9AB36641F7.as... The existing DLM is also a bit costly, as it does a 2-phase lock acquisition phase. Also, IIRC it requires total consensus, not majority-based consensus as you described above. You also have to solve the issue where a member which is currently holding the lock crashes. In this case, you have to release all the locks held by a crashed member. If you submit a concise spec then something like what you described could be implemented in a few days... View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4003677#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...