That depends how one looks at it. I completely accept your argument on using resources optimally. However the bean pool size might not be the best measure. If we deploy our application onto a cluster of nodes using single core CPU, a smaller bean pool is required to get optimal distribution, while if each node were a fancy quad core, a large bean pool would work just as well. I was hoping for an option to always distribute the work on a round robin basis. This would allow me to configure a standard bean pool, aiming to prevent overloading the system, rather then tuning the been pool size according to the hardware configuration of the cluster. Maybe I misunderstand how load and idle periods are determined. Just from my observation it seems to be driven by the pool size. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4158823#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...