Calling of the start/stop methods is a JBoss convention. The JMX spec doesn't really specify mbean lifecycle or dependencies. View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4152024#4152024 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=4152024