Multiple cache operations such as put() can take a lifespan as parameter which defines the time when the entry should be expired. If you have no eviction configured and and you let this time expire, it can look as Infinispan has not removed the entry. For example, the JMX stats such as number of entries might not updated or the persistent store associated with Infinispan might still contain the entry. To understand what's happening, it's important to note that Infinispan has marked the entry as expired but has not actually removed it. Removal of expired entries happens in one of 2 ways:
You try and do a get() or containsKey() for that entry. The entry is then detected as expired and is removed.
You have enabled eviction and an eviction thread wakes up periodically and purges expired entries.
If you have not enabled (2), or your eviction thread wakeup interval is large and you probe jconsole before the eviction thread kicks in, you will still see the expired entry. You can be assured that if you tried to retrieve the entry via a get() or containsKey() though, you won't see the entry (and the entry will be removed).