Ben, Are there any valid use cases for obtaining a Notifier before starting the cache? Shouldn't you only use even try and use a Notifier after you start the cache? Cheers, -- Manik Surtani Lead, JBoss Cache JBoss, a division of Red Hat Email: manik at jboss.org Telephone: +44 7786 702 706 MSN: manik at surtani.org Yahoo/AIM/Skype: maniksurtani