Depending on how your application is written, READ_COMMITTED does make sense when used with Hibernate. Assuming that your DB uses R_C as well, I suspect your app won't have any issues with the cache running with an isolation level of R_C. :-) REPEATABLE_READ is the cache default as it offers a stronger isolation level for a very small penalty if used in a read-mostly situation. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4034037#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...