In an previous discussion with Oracle, they recommended using the following | try { | conn1.setAutoCommit(conn1.getAutoCommit()); | } catch (SQLException se ) { | System.out.println("the connection is no good"); | } | to test whether an XA connection is good, rather than using SQL. Would there be any problem in revising OracleValidConnectionCheck to use this method rather than the pingDatabase? I'm thinking it would probably be more performant, plus these method are part of Connection and so don't require reflection. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4110717#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...