When creating a new Context using the Administration webapp, the property useNaming ("Use Naming" in the HTML form for creating a new context) defaults to "false". That seems like a poor choice for the default given that it means that if you create a new Context and a new DataSource using the Admin webapp and you just accept all the defaults, you will not be able to use the DataSource in your new Context. Also, the Context Container section in the Server Configuration Reference says that the default value of the property should be "true". Symptom: If you create a Context and DataSource using the Admin webapp and try to use the DataSource as explained in the How To guide, you will get this exception: "javax.naming.NameNotFoundException: Name java:comp is not bound in this Context" Googling seems to show a lot of people having this problem. Not sure how often it was caused by this issue. It can easily trip up a newbie like me. To Reproduce: Create a new Context using the Admin webapp. Do not change any of the default values for properties. Create a new DataSource in the Context using the Admin webapp and try to use it in the new Context using code from the How To guide.
Fixed in SVN. Will be in 5.5.18+