https://github.com/ehcache/ehcache3/blob/master/docs/src/docs/asciidoc/developer/index.adoc#services Service are created by using the Java’s java.util.ServiceLoader service-provider loading facility. https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/ServiceLoader.html It is used to locate all org.ehcache.spi.service.ServiceFactory implementations on the classpath. These are in turn used to create Service instances. Each CacheManager uses its own org.ehcache.spi.ServiceLocator facility to locate Service instances, which it then in turn life cycles.