There appears to be an misconfiguration in that application. Specifically, there's an resource-ref entry in jboss.xml for the datasource: <resource-ref> | <res-ref-name>jdbc/TradeDataSource</res-ref-name> | <!-- If using DB2, comment out this line --> | <jndi-name>jdbc/TradeDataSource</jndi-name> | <!-- If using MySql or Oracle, use this line --> | <!-- <jndi-name>java:jdbc/TradeDataSource</jndi-name> --> | </resource-ref> | But there is no corresponding entry for this resource-ref, neither in ejb-jar.xml nor as a @Resource in the TradeSLSBBean. This leads to the NPE. Removing the resource-ref from the jboss.xml (or providing the corresponding entry in ejb-jar.xml or as a @Resource in the bean) should fix this problem. I'll file a EJB3 JIRA to provide better handling/message for this case. View the original post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4229449#... Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.org/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&a...