ok - i figured out what to do - finally. i needed to add mappedName in the bean:
@Stateless(mappedName="SimpleSessionBean")
this shows up in the detail page for the application as a: Sub Module. on glassfish 2.1 where @EJB and appclient works, you have to also add it to the @EJB annotation:
@EJB(mappedName="SimpleSessionBean"). when appclient is used, the Stateless and @EJB do not need mappedName - and when it is added to just @EJB, the appclient will start failing.
is there an article somewhere that explains the use of mappedName. my reading of the ejb faq left me thinking that the default name was the one i ended up using for mappedName - and that it wasn't necessary to add it.
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