I am experiencing almost the same problem. The problem is with the deployment order of the files. The persistence xml file is deployed first, and the whole ear and the datasource is deployed last. Therefore the persistence provider cannot be started as it requires the datasource. The line 'Demands ...' is the culprit. Well no answer yet, I will post it, if I find it. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4162431#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...