JPA does not write to table - sql-server

Question

I have the following JPA code, with all the values checked (ticket contains a valid bean, it ends without exception, etc.) It is executed, it does not throw any exceptions, yet in the end no data is written into the table.
I tried also retrieving a bean from the table, it also "works" (it is empty, so no data is returned).
The setup is
JBoss 6.1 Final
SQLServer 2008 Express (driver SQL JDBC 3 from MS)
The persistence code:
public String saveTicket() {
System.out.println("Controller saveTicket() ");
EntityManagerFactory factory = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory("GesMan"); /* I know it would be better to share a single instance of factory, this is just for testing */
EntityManager entityMan = factory.createEntityManager();
entityMan.persist(this.ticket);
entityMan.close();
}
The persistence unit is
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<persistence version="2.0" xmlns="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd">
<persistence-unit name="GesMan" transaction-type="JTA">
<provider>org.hibernate.ejb.HibernatePersistence</provider>
<jta-data-source>java:/GesManDS</jta-data-source>
<class>es.caib.gesma.gesman.Ticket</class>
<properties>
<property name="hibernate.dialect" value="org.hibernate.dialect.SQLServerDialect"/>
<property name="hibernate.transaction.manager_lookup_class"
value="org.hibernate.transaction.JBossTransactionManagerLookup"/>
<property name="hibernate.show_sql" value="true"/>
</properties>
</persistence-unit>
</persistence>
The datasource
<datasources>
<local-tx-datasource>
<jndi-name>GesManDS</jndi-name>
<connection-url>jdbc:sqlserver://spsigeswnt14.caib.es:1433;DatabaseName=TEST_GESMAN</connection-url>
<driver-class>com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver</driver-class>
<user-name>thisis</user-name>
<password>notthepassword</password>
<check-valid-connection-sql>SELECT * FROM dbo.Ticket</check-valid-connection-sql>
<metadata>
<type-mapping>MS SQLSERVER</type-mapping>
</metadata>
</local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>

Answer 1

call entityMan.flush() or transaction.commit() befor closing it, otherwise it will discard all changes queued on close.

Answer 2

In the end it looks like I was using the wrong approach.... In JBoss you can`t (better said, I could not get to) access JPA directly (as you would do in JSE).
I ended creating an EJB (with transactions) and passing all JPA logic there.
PS: Of course, if I am wrong please tell me (now it is more of an academic issue, but still I want to know)