I have a tomcat server running a set of applications. Each application has its own database and the applications are using identical code base. The application is Spring+hibernate+Struts

At the moment, when tomcat is started, each context is initialized with its own hibernate mapping classes, datasource, dao, sessionfactory etc. This will take very long time and consum a lof of memory.

Is there anyway I can initialize those common stuff eg, hibernate mapping class, dao only once and let the applications share these instances (by passing datasource)?

I will be very thankful for any help
Edit/Delete Message

SessionFactory creation is a heavyweight operation. Since every application has its own database, i think you have not option here.