The database connection pool can be started or stopped using the Geronimo console or deployment tools. Any application or module can declare a dependency on the connection pool module, and then use it via a resource reference.

The database connection pool is deployed as part of an application, and started or stopped when the application is started or stopped. Any module in the same application can use it via a resource reference. Other applications or modules can declare a dependency on this application in order to use the connection pool, and likewise use it via a resource reference. Note that application-scoped deployments are a convenience feature not a security feature -- other applications can always declare a dependency on the application containing the connection pool in order to access the pool.

Application clients cannot access database connection pools running in the server. However, the same configuration syntax can be used to deploy a database connection pool on the client side as part of the application client deployment. In this case, the database connection pool is visible only to the application client. Again, the client VM must be able to connect directly to the database server; the connections do not originate from the Geronimo application server but from the application client container.