diff -r 0106276390ea j2eeserver/apichanges.xml
--- a/j2eeserver/apichanges.xml	Tue Jul 22 12:59:06 2008 -0700
+++ b/j2eeserver/apichanges.xml	Wed Jul 23 15:29:12 2008 -0700
@@ -111,6 +111,27 @@
     <!-- ACTUAL CHANGES BEGIN HERE: -->
 
     <changes>
+        <change id="registerDefaultInstanceAPI">
+	    <api name="plugins"/>
+	    <summary>
+                Provide a way for a plugin to register a "default instance"
+                without deep knowledge of the serverRegistry implementation.
+	    </summary>
+	    <version major="1" minor="50"/>
+	    <date day="31" month="7" year="2008"/>
+	    <author login="vkraemer"/>
+	    <compatibility binary="compatible" source="compatible" semantic="compatible" addition="yes"/>
+	    <description>
+                <p>
+                    OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory gets a new stub, that plugin
+                    implementations would override.  The Plugin author can assume
+                    that the ServerRegistry is initialized to the point where it
+                    can support the creation on instances.
+                </p>
+	    </description>
+	    <class package="org.netbeans.modules.j2ee.deployment.plugins.spi" name="OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory"/>
+            <issue number="141427"/>
+	</change>
         <change id="deployOnSaveAPI">
 	    <api name="plugins"/>
 	    <summary>
diff -r 0106276390ea j2eeserver/nbproject/project.properties
--- a/j2eeserver/nbproject/project.properties	Tue Jul 22 12:59:06 2008 -0700
+++ b/j2eeserver/nbproject/project.properties	Wed Jul 23 15:29:12 2008 -0700
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@
 
 is.autoload=true
 javac.source=1.5
-spec.version.base=1.49.0
+spec.version.base=1.50.0
 
 javadoc.overview=${basedir}/api/doc/overview.html
 javadoc.arch=${basedir}/arch.xml
diff -r 0106276390ea j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/impl/ServerRegistry.java
--- a/j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/impl/ServerRegistry.java	Tue Jul 22 12:59:06 2008 -0700
+++ b/j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/impl/ServerRegistry.java	Wed Jul 23 15:29:12 2008 -0700
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@
 import java.util.Set;
 import java.util.logging.Level;
 import org.netbeans.modules.j2ee.deployment.devmodules.spi.InstanceListener;
+import org.netbeans.modules.j2ee.deployment.plugins.spi.OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory;
 import org.netbeans.modules.j2ee.deployment.profiler.spi.Profiler;
 import org.openide.filesystems.FileAttributeEvent;
 import org.openide.filesystems.FileChangeListener;
@@ -105,7 +106,7 @@
     public synchronized static boolean wasInitialized () {
         return instance != null && instance.servers != null && instance.instances != null;
     }
-    private transient Map servers = null;
+    private transient Map<String, Server> servers = null;
     private transient Map instances = null;
     private transient Collection pluginListeners = new HashSet();
     private transient Collection instanceListeners = new ArrayList();
@@ -134,6 +135,14 @@
             for (int i = 0; i < ch.length; i++) {
                 addPlugin(ch[i]);
             }
+            LOGGER.log(Level.FINE, "Initializing default instances"); // NOI18N
+            for (String s : serversMap().keySet()) {
+                Server server = serversMap().get(s);
+                OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory odmf = server.getOptionalFactory();
+                if (null != odmf) {
+                    odmf.registerDefaultInstance();
+                }
+            }
             LOGGER.log(Level.FINE, "Loading server instances"); // NOI18N
             dir = rep.getDefaultFileSystem().findResource(DIR_INSTALLED_SERVERS);
             dir.addFileChangeListener(new InstanceInstallListener());
@@ -146,7 +155,7 @@
         }
     }
 
-    private Map serversMap() {
+    private Map<String,Server> serversMap() {
         init();
         return servers;
     }
diff -r 0106276390ea j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/plugins/spi/OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory.java
--- a/j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/plugins/spi/OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory.java	Tue Jul 22 12:59:06 2008 -0700
+++ b/j2eeserver/src/org/netbeans/modules/j2ee/deployment/plugins/spi/OptionalDeploymentManagerFactory.java	Wed Jul 23 15:29:12 2008 -0700
@@ -167,4 +167,14 @@
         return null;
     }
 
+    /** 
+     * Allows a plugin to insert an initial "instance" in the server registry,
+     * after the registry has completed initialization.
+     * 
+     * @since 1.50
+     */
+    public void registerDefaultInstance() {
+        return;
+    }
+
 }