You must first define the role in your portlet.xml before you can use this method. Please check the portlet spec View the original post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=viewtopic&p=4183609#4183609 Reply to the post : http://www.jboss.com/index.html?module=bb&op=posting&mode=reply&p=4183609