A connector architecture implementation that is J2EE compliant and provides improved connection management capabilities. The connector architecture implementation provides a connector leak detection mechanism that detects connection leaks both automatically and manually. The connector architecture implementation pre-configures and manages the growth and reduction of a connection pool. The connector architecture implementation may be pre-configured by pre-populating the connection pool. Connection pool growth may be managed by generating connections in response to connection requests. A connection pool may also be configured to reduce the number of connections in the pool. The number of connections may be reduced if the connection demand decreases. Password credentials allowing access to services are used to provide additional connection management.