ejbpassivate

When a stateful session bean is idle (no client activity for a while), the container may want to free up memory by serializing the bean to secondary storage. Before serialization, the bean needs to release any non-serializable resources (like open database connections, network sockets).

ejbPassivate() is a callback method that the EJB container calls on a stateful session bean BEFORE it is passivated (serialized to storage). It allows the bean to release resources that cannot be serialized.

1. Container decides — bean is idle, container chooses to passivate it
2. ejbPassivate() called — BEFORE serialization, container calls this method
3. Bean releases resources — close DB connections, JMS connections, etc.
4. Serialization — container serializes bean to secondary storage
5. Memory freed — bean instance returned to pool or garbage collected

When the client needs the bean again, ejbActivate() will be called to restore resources.

• Callback method — container calls it, not the client
• Release non-serializable resources — main purpose
• Stateful SB only — stateless beans don’t have passivation
• No parameters — container doesn’t pass any arguments

• Built from: Passivation — ejbPassivate is part of this process
• Contrasts with: ejbActivate() — called after activation (reverse)
• Related: Stateful Session Bean — primary user of this callback
• Related: Activation — the overall lifecycle process
• Related: Instance Pooling — passivated beans free up pool slots

• Only for stateful session beans (NOT stateless, NOT entity beans)
• Don’t do business logic here — just cleanup
• If this method throws an exception, passivation fails and bean stays in memory