A StatelessContainer can be declared via xml in the <tomee-home>/conf/tomee.xml file or in a WEB-INF/resources.xml file using a declaration like the following. All properties in the element body are optional.

<Container id="myStatelessContainer" type="STATELESS">
    accessTimeout = 30 seconds
    callbackThreads = 5
    closeTimeout = 5 minutes
    garbageCollection = false
    idleTimeout = 0 minutes
    maxAge = 0 hours
    maxAgeOffset = -1
    maxSize = 10
    minSize = 0
    replaceAged = true
    replaceFlushed = false
    strictPooling = true
    sweepInterval = 5 minutes
</Container>

Alternatively, a StatelessContainer can be declared via properties in the <tomee-home>/conf/system.properties file or via Java VirtualMachine -D properties. The properties can also be used when embedding TomEE via the javax.ejb.embeddable.EJBContainer API or InitialContext

myStatelessContainer = new://Container?type=STATELESS
myStatelessContainer.accessTimeout = 30 seconds
myStatelessContainer.callbackThreads = 5
myStatelessContainer.closeTimeout = 5 minutes
myStatelessContainer.garbageCollection = false
myStatelessContainer.idleTimeout = 0 minutes
myStatelessContainer.maxAge = 0 hours
myStatelessContainer.maxAgeOffset = -1
myStatelessContainer.maxSize = 10
myStatelessContainer.minSize = 0
myStatelessContainer.replaceAged = true
myStatelessContainer.replaceFlushed = false
myStatelessContainer.strictPooling = true
myStatelessContainer.sweepInterval = 5 minutes

Properties and xml can be mixed. Properties will override the xml allowing for easy configuration change without the need for ${} style variable substitution. Properties are not case sensitive. If a property is specified that is not supported by the declared StatelessContainer a warning will be logged. If a StatelessContainer is needed by the application and one is not declared, TomEE will create one dynamically using default settings. Multiple StatelessContainer declarations are allowed.

Supported Properties

Property Type Default Description
accessTimeout time 30 seconds Specifies the time an invokation should wait for an instance of the pool to become available.
callbackThreads int 5 The number of threads for constructing and destroying beans.
closeTimeout time 5 minutes Maximum time to wait for instances to be destroyed when shutting down the pool
garbageCollection boolean false Allows Garbage Collection to be used as a mechanism for shrinking the pool.
idleTimeout time 0 minutes Specifies the maximum time that an instance should be allowed to sit idly in the pool without use before it should be retired and removed.
maxAge time 0 hours Specifies the maximum time that an instance should live before it should be retired and removed from use.
maxAgeOffset int -1 Applies to MaxAge usage and would rarely be changed, but is a nice feature to understand.
maxSize int 10 Specifies the size of the instance pool for this stateless SessionBean container.
minSize int 0 Specifies the minimum number of bean instances that should be in the pool for each bean.
replaceAged boolean true When `ReplaceAged` is enabled, any instances in the pool that expire due to reaching their `MaxAge` will be replaced immediately so that the pool will remain at its current size.
replaceFlushed boolean false When `ReplaceFlushed` is enabled, any instances in the pool that are flushed will be replaced immediately so that the pool will remain at its current size.
strictPooling boolean true StrictPooling tells the container what to do when the pool reaches it's maximum size and there are incoming requests that need instances.
sweepInterval time 5 minutes The frequency in which the container will sweep the pool and evict expired instances.

accessTimeout

Specifies the time an invokation should wait for an instance of the pool to become available.

After the timeout is reached, if an instance in the pool cannot be obtained, the method invocation will fail.

Usable time units: nanoseconds, microsecons, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days. Or any combination such as "1 hour and 27 minutes and 10 seconds"

Any usage of the javax.ejb.AccessTimeout annotation will override this setting for the bean or method where the annotation is used.

callbackThreads

The number of threads for constructing and destroying beans.

When sweeping the pool for expired instances a thread pool is used to process calling @PreDestroy on expired instances as well as creating new instances as might be required to fill the pool to the minimum after a Flush or MaxAge expiration. The CallbackThreads setting dictates the size of the thread pool and is shared by all beans deployed in the container.

closeTimeout

Maximum time to wait for instances to be destroyed when shutting down the pool

PostConstruct methods are invoked on all instances in the pool when the bean is undeployed and its pool is closed. The CloseTimeout specifies the maximum time to wait for the pool to close and PostConstruct methods to be invoked.

Usable time units: nanoseconds, microsecons, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days. Or any combination such as 1 hour and 27 minutes and 10 seconds

garbageCollection

Allows Garbage Collection to be used as a mechanism for shrinking the pool.

When set to true all instances in the pool, excluding the minimum, are eligible for garbage collection by the virtual machine as per the rules of java.lang.ref.SoftReference and can be claimed by the JVM to free memory. Instances garbage collected will have their @PreDestroy methods called during finalization.

In the OpenJDK VM the -XX:SoftRefLRUPolicyMSPerMB flag can adjust how aggressively SoftReferences are collected. The default OpenJDK setting is 1000, resulting in inactive pooled instances living one second of lifetime per free megabyte in the heap, which is very aggressive. The setting should be increased to get the most out of the GarbageCollection feature of the pool. Much higher settings are safe. Even a setting as high as 3600000 (1 hour per free MB in the heap) does not affect the ability for the VM to garbage collect SoftReferences in the event that memory is needed to avoid an OutOfMemoryException.

idleTimeout

Specifies the maximum time that an instance should be allowed to sit idly in the pool without use before it should be retired and removed.

Only instances in surplus of the pool's MinSize are eligible to expire via IdleTimeout Instances that expire due to IdleTimeout will have their @PreDestroy methods invoked before being completely destroyed.

Usable time units: nanoseconds, microsecons, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days. Or any combination such as "1 hour and 27 minutes and 10 seconds"

maxAge

Specifies the maximum time that an instance should live before it should be retired and removed from use.

This will happen gracefully. Useful for situations where bean instances are designed to hold potentially expensive resources such as memory or file handles and need to be periodically cleared out.

Usable time units: nanoseconds, microsecons, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days. Or any combination such as 1 hour and 27 minutes and 10 seconds

maxAgeOffset

Applies to MaxAge usage and would rarely be changed, but is a nice feature to understand.

When the container first starts and the pool is filled to the minimum size, all those "minimum" instances will have the same creation time and therefore all expire at the same time dictated by the MaxAge setting. To protect against this sudden drop scenario and provide a more gradual expiration from the start the container will spread out the age of the instances that fill the pool to the minimum using an offset.

The MaxAgeOffset is not the final value of the offset, but rather it is used in creating the offset and allows the spreading to push the initial ages into the future or into the past. The pool is filled at startup as follows:

for (int i = 0; i < poolMin; i++) {
    long ageOffset = (maxAge / poolMin * i * maxAgeOffset) % maxAge;
    pool.add(new Bean(), ageOffset));
}

The default MaxAgeOffset is -1 which causes the initial instances in the pool to live a bit longer before expiring. As a concrete example, let's say the MinSize is 4 and the MaxAge is 100 years. The generated offsets for the four instances created at startup would be 0, -25, -50, -75. So the first instance would be "born" at age 0, die at 100, living 100 years. The second instance would be born at -25, die at 100, living a total of 125 years. The third would live 150 years. The fourth 175 years.

A MaxAgeOffset of 1 would cause instances to be "born" older and therefore die sooner. Using the same example MinSize of 4 and MaxAge of 100 years, the life spans of these initial four instances would be 100, 75, 50, and 25 years respectively.

A MaxAgeOffset of 0 will cause no "spreading" of the age of the first instances used to fill the pool to the minimum and these instances will of course reach their MaxAge at the same time. It is possible to set to decimal values such as -0.5, 0.5, -1.2, or 1.2.

maxSize

Specifies the size of the instance pool for this stateless SessionBean container.

Each @Stateless bean will get its own instance pool. If StrictPooling is not used, instances will still be created beyond this number if there is demand, but they will not be returned to the pool and instead will be immediately expire.

minSize

Specifies the minimum number of bean instances that should be in the pool for each bean.

Pools are prefilled to the minimum on startup. Note this will create start order dependencies between other beans that also eagerly start, such as other @Stateless beans with a minimum or @Singleton beans using @Startup. The @DependsOn annotation can be used to appropriately influence start order.

The minimum pool size is rigidly maintained. Instances in the minimum side of the pool are not eligible for IdleTimeout or GarbageCollection, but are subject to MaxAge and flushing.

If the pool is flushed it is immediately refilled to the minimum size with MaxAgeOffset applied. If an instance from the minimum side of the pool reaches its MaxAge, it is also immediately replaced. Replacement is done in a background queue using the number of threads specified by CallbackThreads.

replaceAged

When ReplaceAged is enabled, any instances in the pool that expire due to reaching their MaxAge will be replaced immediately so that the pool will remain at its current size.

Replacement is done in a background queue so that incoming threads will not have to wait for instance creation.

The aim of his option is to prevent user requests from paying the instance creation cost as MaxAge is enforced, potentially while under heavy load at peak hours.

Instances from the minimum side of the pool are always replaced when they reach their MaxAge, this setting dictates the treatment of non-minimum instances.

replaceFlushed

When ReplaceFlushed is enabled, any instances in the pool that are flushed will be replaced immediately so that the pool will remain at its current size.

Replacement is done in a background queue so that incoming threads will not have to wait for instance creation.

The aim of his option is to prevent user requests from paying the instance creation cost if a flush performed while under heavy load at peak hours.

Instances from the minimum side of the pool are always replaced when they are flushed, this setting dictates the treatment of non-minimum instances.

A bean may flush its pool by casting the SessionContext to Flushable and calling flush(). See SweepInterval for details on how flush is performed.

import javax.annotation.Resource;
import javax.ejb.SessionContext;
import javax.ejb.Stateless;
import java.io.Flushable;
import java.io.IOException;

public class MyBean {

    private SessionContext sessionContext;

    public void flush() throws IOException {

        ((Flushable) sessionContext).flush();
    }
}

strictPooling

StrictPooling tells the container what to do when the pool reaches it's maximum size and there are incoming requests that need instances.

With strict pooling, requests will have to wait for instances to become available. The pool size will never grow beyond the the set MaxSize value. The maximum amount of time a request should wait is specified via the AccessTimeout setting.

Without strict pooling, the container will create temporary instances to meet demand. The instances will last for just one method invocation and then are removed.

Setting StrictPooling to false and MaxSize to 0 will result in no pooling. Instead instances will be created on demand and live for exactly one method call before being removed.

sweepInterval

The frequency in which the container will sweep the pool and evict expired instances.

Eviction is how the IdleTimeout, MaxAge, and pool "flush" functionality is enforced. Higher intervals are better.

Instances in use are excluded from sweeping. Should an instance expire while in use it will be evicted immediately upon return to the pool. Effectively MaxAge and flushes will be enforced as a part of normal activity or sweeping, while IdleTimeout is only enforcable via sweeping. This makes aggressive sweeping less important for a pool under moderate load.

Usable time units: nanoseconds, microsecons, milliseconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days. Or any combination such as 1 hour and 27 minutes and 10 seconds