The pattern is great on the surface(and with postgres, it rocks)....

tx.begin();

//do code including 

tx.commit();

But in many cases you are just showing a semi-static page like error.xhtml(the tabs in the template are not static), but there are no hits to the database.  Is there someone in the specification that says tx.begin() should not result in a call to the database(I thought there was some info on this).  Oracle hits the database on tx.begin putting seam in an infinite redirect if the database is down as it keeps trying to redirect to error.xhtml.

I have tried moving error.xhtml to JSF(while keeping it in facelets) but seam's redirect was not working at all(and this feels like a hack since postgres works here).

Is there any info in the specifications to get oracle to make their driver work like postgres driver?

The stack trace we saw with oracle was this(over and over as it keeps trying to load the error.xhtml page and redirecting to itself)....

Feb 25, 2010 8:33:43 AM org.hibernate.util.JDBCExceptionReporter
logExceptions
WARNING: SQL Error: 1034, SQLState: 08006
Feb 25, 2010 8:33:43 AM org.hibernate.util.JDBCExceptionReporter
logExceptions
SEVERE: ORA-01034: ORACLE not available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory

- handled and logged exception
java.lang.IllegalStateException: Could not start transaction
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.begin(SeamPhaseListener.java:598)
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.begin(SeamPhaseListener.java:583)
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.handleTransactionsBeforePhase(SeamP
haseListener.java:327)
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.beforeServletPhase(SeamPhaseListene
r.java:144)
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.beforePhase(SeamPhaseListener.java:
118)
        at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.handleBeforePhase(Phase.java:214)
        at com.sun.faces.lifecycle.Phase.doPhase(Phase.java:96)
        at
com.sun.faces.lifecycle.LifecycleImpl.render(LifecycleImpl.java:139)
        at
javax.faces.webapp.FacesServlet.service(FacesServlet.java:266)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(Applica
tionFilterChain.java:290)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilt
erChain.java:206)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:83)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.RewriteFilter.doFilter(RewriteFilter.java:63)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.IdentityFilter.doFilter(IdentityFilter.java:40)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.MultipartFilter.doFilter(MultipartFilter.java:90)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.ExceptionFilter.doFilter(ExceptionFilter.java:64)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.RedirectFilter.doFilter(RedirectFilter.java:45)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.ajax4jsf.webapp.BaseXMLFilter.doXmlFilter(BaseXMLFilter.java:178)
        at
org.ajax4jsf.webapp.BaseFilter.handleRequest(BaseFilter.java:290)
        at
org.ajax4jsf.webapp.BaseFilter.processUploadsAndHandleRequest(BaseFilter
.java:368)
        at org.ajax4jsf.webapp.BaseFilter.doFilter(BaseFilter.java:495)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.Ajax4jsfFilter.doFilter(Ajax4jsfFilter.java:56)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.LoggingFilter.doFilter(LoggingFilter.java:60)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.web.HotDeployFilter.doFilter(HotDeployFilter.java:53)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter$FilterChainImpl.doFilter(SeamFilter.ja
va:69)
        at
org.jboss.seam.servlet.SeamFilter.doFilter(SeamFilter.java:158)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(Applica
tionFilterChain.java:235)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilt
erChain.java:206)
        at
net.voicelog.web.http.LogHttpReqFilter.doFilter(LogHttpReqFilter.java:60
)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(Applica
tionFilterChain.java:235)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilt
erChain.java:206)
        at
net.voicelog.web.http.FilterForLogging.doFilter(FilterForLogging.java:52
)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.internalDoFilter(Applica
tionFilterChain.java:235)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationFilterChain.doFilter(ApplicationFilt
erChain.java:206)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapperValve.invoke(StandardWrapperValv
e.java:233)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContextValve.invoke(StandardContextValv
e.java:191)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardHostValve.invoke(StandardHostValve.java
:128)
        at
org.apache.catalina.valves.ErrorReportValve.invoke(ErrorReportValve.java
:102)
        at
org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngineValve.invoke(StandardEngineValve.
java:109)
        at
org.apache.catalina.connector.CoyoteAdapter.service(CoyoteAdapter.java:2
93)
        at
org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Processor.process(Http11Processor.java:84
9)
        at
org.apache.coyote.http11.Http11Protocol$Http11ConnectionHandler.process(
Http11Protocol.java:583)
        at
org.apache.tomcat.util.net.JIoEndpoint$Worker.run(JIoEndpoint.java:454)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
Caused by: javax.persistence.PersistenceException:
org.hibernate.exception.JDBCConnectionException: Cannot open connection
        at
org.hibernate.ejb.AbstractEntityManagerImpl.throwPersistenceException(Ab
stractEntityManagerImpl.java:614)
        at
org.hibernate.ejb.TransactionImpl.begin(TransactionImpl.java:41)
        at
org.jboss.seam.transaction.EntityTransaction.begin(EntityTransaction.jav
a:82)
        at
org.jboss.seam.jsf.SeamPhaseListener.begin(SeamPhaseListener.java:593)
        ... 50 more
Caused by: org.hibernate.exception.JDBCConnectionException: Cannot open
connection
        at
org.hibernate.exception.SQLStateConverter.convert(SQLStateConverter.java
:97)
        at
org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.
java:66)
        at
org.hibernate.exception.JDBCExceptionHelper.convert(JDBCExceptionHelper.
java:52)
        at
org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.openConnection(ConnectionManager.ja
va:449)
        at
org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.getConnection(ConnectionManager.jav
a:167)
        at
org.hibernate.jdbc.JDBCContext.connection(JDBCContext.java:142)
        at
org.hibernate.transaction.JDBCTransaction.begin(JDBCTransaction.java:85)
        at
org.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.beginTransaction(SessionImpl.java:1354)
        at
org.hibernate.ejb.TransactionImpl.begin(TransactionImpl.java:38)
        ... 52 more
Caused by: java.sql.SQLRecoverableException: ORA-01034: ORACLE not
available
ORA-27101: shared memory realm does not exist
Linux-x86_64 Error: 2: No such file or directory

        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.SQLStateMapping.newSQLException(SQLStateMapping.java:
101)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.DatabaseError.newSQLException(DatabaseError.java:133)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.DatabaseError.throwSqlException(DatabaseError.java:20
6)
        at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:455)
        at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:406)
        at oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoer.processError(T4CTTIoer.java:399)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CTTIoauthenticate.receiveOsesskey(T4CTTIoauthentica
te.java:308)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CConnection.logon(T4CConnection.java:364)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.PhysicalConnection.<init>(PhysicalConnection.java:508
)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CConnection.<init>(T4CConnection.java:203)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.T4CDriverExtension.getConnection(T4CDriverExtension.j
ava:33)
        at
oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver.connect(OracleDriver.java:510)
        at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java:582)
        at java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(DriverManager.java:154)
        at
org.hibernate.connection.DriverManagerConnectionProvider.getConnection(D
riverManagerConnectionProvider.java:133)
        at
org.hibernate.jdbc.ConnectionManager.openConnection(ConnectionManager.ja
va:446)
        ... 57 more

thanks,
Dean