Looking at the jboss-app_4_0.dtd file, it appears that one can embed a Hibernate archive and a service within an ear file (and reference them via a jboss-app.xml file), but one cannot embed a *-ds.xml. So it looks you you will have to create a sar file, though you could possibly place only the *-ds.xml file in it and then embed the sar within the ear. I haven't tried this, but if it works, let me know. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4023165#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...