PeterJ, Thanks for writing. I understand a lot more about the app server as a result. A more definitive list can be found in the source at system/src/main/org/jboss/deployment/DeploymentSorter.java, look at DEFAULT_SUFFIX_ORDER. Interesting. It is deprecated, but points to SuffixOrderHelper.java, which then says the values and order were moved: Moved this list to org.jboss.deployment.MainDeployer-xmbean.xml so there are no hardcoded defaults. So off I go to there, and see a list of suffixes that includes 150:-service.xml, but that list is commented out, and below it: <descriptors> | <value value="250:.rar,300:-ds.xml,400:.jar,500:.war,550:.jse,650:.ear,800:.bsh"/> | </descriptors> | ...but -service.xml is now out of the list. Weird! I started out trying to find which configuration files (.xml) could be added to with a unique prefix (like the uncontested abc-ds.xml), but I'm not sure what I've stumbled onto. I know that you can add queues and topics with someQueue-service.xml, but the source I found in this journey didn't bear that out. If the only system configuration that can be done with XML descriptors is with queues/topics (*-service.xml) and data sources (*-ds.xml), thats fine. I was just curious what they were. Thanks again! View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4045248#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...