The way I understand it is that these files are completely optional. All of what is done in these files can be done through the Admin portal. With that said, we really like defining these files. It means we can drop our application in on any JBoss portal server and have it configured for us. Our layout is pretty static and it's the only way I know of to manage the configuration and easily duplicate the configuration through our environments (dev, qa, uat, prod). View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4130444#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...