Following up from this thread: http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=3977381 Any idea why connections created in getConnection() aren't stored in the ThreadLocal as they are in prepare()? Is this so that the same connection is used throughout the tx? Does this also make sense that the conn is not closed in ConnectionFactory.close() if the connection is the same as the one in ThreadLocal, and is only closed by a commit () or rollback()? I presume then that a proper approach here would be to use a HashMap of connections as a rudimentary pool? Thanks, -- Manik Surtani Lead, JBoss Cache JBoss, a division of Red Hat Email: manik(a)jboss.org Telephone: +44 7786 702 706 MSN: manik(a)surtani.org Yahoo/AIM/Skype: maniksurtani