diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCheck.java b/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCheck.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7d0be8d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCheck.java
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package org.springframework.data.graph.neo4j.config;
+
+import org.neo4j.graphdb.Transaction;
+import org.springframework.data.graph.neo4j.support.GraphDatabaseContext;
+import org.springframework.transaction.PlatformTransactionManager;
+import org.springframework.transaction.TransactionStatus;
+
+import javax.annotation.PostConstruct;
+
+/**
+ * Validates correct configuration of Neo4j and Spring, especially transaction-managers
+ */
+public class ConfigurationCheck {
+    GraphDatabaseContext graphDatabaseContext;
+    PlatformTransactionManager transactionManager;
+
+    public ConfigurationCheck(GraphDatabaseContext graphDatabaseContext, PlatformTransactionManager transactionManager) {
+        this.graphDatabaseContext = graphDatabaseContext;
+        this.transactionManager = transactionManager;
+    }
+
+    @PostConstruct
+    private void checkConfiguration() {
+        checkInjection();
+        checkSpringTransactionManager();
+        checkNeo4jTransactionManager();
+    }
+
+    private void checkInjection() {
+        assert graphDatabaseContext.getGraphDatabaseService()!=null : "graphDatabaseService not correctly configured, please refer to the manual, setup section";
+    }
+
+    private void checkSpringTransactionManager() {
+        try {
+            TransactionStatus transaction = transactionManager.getTransaction(null);
+            updateStartTime();
+            transactionManager.commit(transaction);
+        } catch(Exception e) {
+            AssertionError error = new AssertionError("transactionManager not correctly configured, please refer to the manual, setup section");
+            error.initCause(e);
+            throw error;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void checkNeo4jTransactionManager() {
+        Transaction tx = null;
+        try {
+            tx = graphDatabaseContext.beginTx();
+            updateStartTime();
+            tx.success();
+        } catch (Exception e) {
+            AssertionError error = new AssertionError("transactionManager not correctly configured, please refer to the manual, setup section");
+            error.initCause(e);
+            throw error;
+        } finally {
+            try {
+            if (tx != null) tx.finish();
+            } catch(Exception e) {
+                // ignore
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void updateStartTime() {
+        graphDatabaseContext.getReferenceNode().setProperty("startTime", System.currentTimeMillis());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/Neo4jConfiguration.java b/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/Neo4jConfiguration.java
index 1adffa251..0a7e33cb4 100644
--- a/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/Neo4jConfiguration.java
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j/src/main/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/Neo4jConfiguration.java
@@ -154,4 +154,9 @@ public class Neo4jConfiguration {
 			return transactionManager;
 		}
 	}
+
+    @Bean
+    public ConfigurationCheck configurationCheck() throws Exception {
+        return new ConfigurationCheck(graphDatabaseContext(),transactionManager());
+    }
 }
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationConfirmationTest.java b/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationConfirmationTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..99bc799f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/java/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationConfirmationTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+package org.springframework.data.graph.neo4j.config;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanCreationException;
+import org.springframework.context.support.ClassPathXmlApplicationContext;
+
+/**
+ * @author mh
+ * @since 23.03.11
+ */
+public class ConfigurationConfirmationTest {
+    @Test(expected = BeanCreationException.class)
+    public void testInvalidTransactionManagerFails() {
+        ClassPathXmlApplicationContext appCtx = new ClassPathXmlApplicationContext("classpath:org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCofirmationTest-context.xml");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCofirmationTest-context.xml b/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCofirmationTest-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..149f0f9c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spring-data-neo4j/src/test/resources/org/springframework/data/graph/neo4j/config/ConfigurationCofirmationTest-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
+<beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xmlns:context="http://www.springframework.org/schema/context"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+    xmlns:datagraph="http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/graph"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-3.0.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/context http://www.springframework.org/schema/context/spring-context-3.0.xsd
+		http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/graph http://www.springframework.org/schema/data/graph/datagraph-1.0.xsd
+		">
+
+    <context:annotation-config/>
+    <datagraph:config storeDirectory="target/config-test"/>
+
+    <bean name="transactionManager" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager">
+        <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource"/>
+    </bean>
+
+    <bean class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DriverManagerDataSource" id="dataSource">
+        <property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"/>
+        <property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:mem:test"/>
+        <property name="username" value="sa"/>
+        <property name="password" value=""/>
+    </bean>
+</beans>
\ No newline at end of file