A ClassNotFoundException is thrown during startup when the app server tries to de-serialize an "info" object associated with the timer at creation time. This occurs when the deployment contains the timer info class file and the deployment is isolated. The timer thread reading the timer information does not access the deployment classloader.

To reproduce using the attached TimerClassNotFound.zip:

1.) unzip and cd into TimerClassNotFound
2.) configure the jboss.home property in build.xml as appropriate
3.) Start the application server
4.) run "ant deploy" to build and deploy the ear
5.) run "ant startTimer" to start the timer
6.) restart the application server

During the restart, the ejb2-timer-service will attempt to read persisted timers from the database and will fail with a ClassNotFoundException trying to create example.MessageWrapper. A null value will be stored for the info and used in subsequent timeouts.

Use "ant stopTimer" to cancel the timer.

If the deployment is not isolated (comment out line 67 in the build.xml file,) the ClassNotFoundException is not encountered.