diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/RegionFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/RegionFactoryBean.java
index 4439d416..09460edf 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/RegionFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/RegionFactoryBean.java
@@ -98,9 +98,10 @@ public class RegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionLookupFactoryBean<K, V> imple
 
 		Cache c = (Cache) cache;
 
-		if (attributes != null)
+		if (attributes != null) {
 			AttributesFactory.validateAttributes(attributes);
-
+		}
+		
 		final RegionFactory<K, V> regionFactory = (attributes != null ? c.createRegionFactory(attributes) : c
 				.<K, V> createRegionFactory());
 
@@ -110,12 +111,11 @@ public class RegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionLookupFactoryBean<K, V> imple
 
 			regionFactory.setGatewayHubId(hubId);
 		}
-		if (enableGateway != null) {
-			if (enableGateway) {
-				Assert.notNull(hubId, "enableGateway requires the hubId property to be true");
-			}
+		
+		if (enableGateway !=null) {
 			regionFactory.setEnableGateway(enableGateway);
 		}
+	
 		if (!ObjectUtils.isEmpty(cacheListeners)) {
 			for (CacheListener<K, V> listener : cacheListeners) {
 				regionFactory.addCacheListener(listener);
@@ -129,17 +129,19 @@ public class RegionFactoryBean<K, V> extends RegionLookupFactoryBean<K, V> imple
 		if (cacheWriter != null) {
 			regionFactory.setCacheWriter(cacheWriter);
 		}
-
+		
+		if (diskStoreName != null) {
+			regionFactory.setDiskStoreName(diskStoreName);
+			Assert.isTrue(!isNotPersistent(),"it is invalid to specify a disk store if 'persistent' is set to false.");
+			persistent = true;
+		}
+		
 		resolveDataPolicy(regionFactory, persistent, dataPolicy);
 
 		if (scope != null) {
 			regionFactory.setScope(scope);
 		}
 
-		if (diskStoreName != null) {
-			regionFactory.setDiskStoreName(diskStoreName);
-		}
-
 		if (attributes != null) {
 			Assert.state(!attributes.isLockGrantor() || scope.isGlobal(),
 					"Lock grantor only applies to a global scoped region");
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GatewayHubParser.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GatewayHubParser.java
index 346fcd1b..c8717bbc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GatewayHubParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/config/GatewayHubParser.java
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ class GatewayHubParser extends AbstractSimpleBeanDefinitionParser {
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "manual-start");
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "socket-buffer-size");
 		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "startup-policy");
+		ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(element, builder, "port");
+		
 		List<Element> gatewayElements = DomUtils.getChildElementsByTagName(element, "gateway");
 		if (!CollectionUtils.isEmpty(gatewayElements)) {
 			ManagedList gateways = new ManagedList();
@@ -90,8 +92,17 @@ class GatewayHubParser extends AbstractSimpleBeanDefinitionParser {
 					ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(gatewayQueueElement, queueBuilder, "maximum-queue-memory");
 					ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(gatewayQueueElement, queueBuilder, "persistent");
 					ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(gatewayQueueElement, queueBuilder, "disk-store-ref");
+					/*
+					 * Make sure any disk store is created first
+					 */
+					if (gatewayQueueElement.hasAttribute("disk-store-ref")) {
+						gatewayBuilder.getBeanDefinition().setDependsOn(
+								new String[] {gatewayQueueElement.getAttribute("disk-store-ref")});
+					}
 					ParsingUtils.setPropertyValue(gatewayQueueElement, queueBuilder, "enable-batch-conflation");
 					gatewayBuilder.addPropertyValue("queue", queueBuilder.getBeanDefinition());
+					
+					
 				}
 				gateways.add(gatewayBuilder.getBeanDefinition());
 			}
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayHubFactoryBean.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayHubFactoryBean.java
index 9896c4a8..ad914526 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayHubFactoryBean.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayHubFactoryBean.java
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
  */
 package org.springframework.data.gemfire.wan;
 
+import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ public class GatewayHubFactoryBean extends AbstractWANComponentFactoryBean<Gatew
 		}
 
 		Assert.notNull(cache.getGatewayHub(name));
-
+		
 		if (bindAddress != null) {
 			gatewayHub.setBindAddress(bindAddress);
 		}
@@ -123,9 +124,6 @@ public class GatewayHubFactoryBean extends AbstractWANComponentFactoryBean<Gatew
 			if (gateway.getSocketBufferSize() != null) {
 				gw.setSocketBufferSize(gateway.getSocketBufferSize());
 			}
-			if (gateway.getSocketReadTimeout() != null) {
-				gw.setSocketReadTimeout(gateway.getSocketReadTimeout());
-			}
 
 			if (gateway.getQueue() != null) {
 				GatewayQueue queue = gateway.getQueue();
@@ -158,6 +156,13 @@ public class GatewayHubFactoryBean extends AbstractWANComponentFactoryBean<Gatew
 				}
 			}
 		}
+		if (gatewayHub.getManualStart() == false) {
+			try {
+				gatewayHub.start();
+			} catch (IOException e) {
+				throw new RuntimeException(e);
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	public void setPort(Integer port) {
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayProxy.java b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayProxy.java
index 7f210435..705ab65a 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayProxy.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/gemfire/wan/GatewayProxy.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package org.springframework.data.gemfire.wan;
 
 import java.util.List;
 
+import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.util.Gateway;
 import com.gemstone.gemfire.cache.util.GatewayEventListener;
 
 /**
@@ -30,7 +31,7 @@ public class GatewayProxy {
 
 	private List<GatewayEndpoint> endpoints;
 
-	private Integer concurrencyLevel;
+	private Integer concurrencyLevel = Gateway.DEFAULT_CONCURRENCY_LEVEL;
 
 	private String id;
 
@@ -38,9 +39,7 @@ public class GatewayProxy {
 
 	private String orderPolicy;
 
-	private int socketBufferSize;
-
-	private int socketReadTimeout;
+	private int socketBufferSize = Gateway.DEFAULT_SOCKET_BUFFER_SIZE;
 
 	private GatewayQueue queue;
 
@@ -83,11 +82,7 @@ public class GatewayProxy {
 	public Integer getSocketBufferSize() {
 		return this.socketBufferSize;
 	}
-
-	public Integer getSocketReadTimeout() {
-		return this.socketReadTimeout;
-	}
-
+	
 	public void setId(String id) {
 		this.id = id;
 	}
@@ -101,10 +96,6 @@ public class GatewayProxy {
 
 	}
 
-	public void setSocketReadTimeout(int socketReadTimeout) {
-		this.socketReadTimeout = socketReadTimeout;
-	}
-
 	public static class GatewayEndpoint {
 		private String host;