diff --git a/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/jdbc/JDBCPersistenceAdapter.java b/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/jdbc/JDBCPersistenceAdapter.java
index 893495d13b..804f855f18 100755
--- a/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/jdbc/JDBCPersistenceAdapter.java
+++ b/activemq-core/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/store/jdbc/JDBCPersistenceAdapter.java
@@ -290,6 +290,9 @@ public class JDBCPersistenceAdapter implements PersistenceAdapter {
     }
 
     public TransactionContext getTransactionContext() {
+        if (dataSource == null) { 
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("No dataSource property has been configured");
+        }
         return new TransactionContext(dataSource);
     }