Spring Boot Actuator - Advanced Guide

1️⃣ Introduction

Spring Boot Actuator provides production-ready features to help you monitor and manage your application. This article explores how to use Actuator effectively for monitoring, metrics, and health checks.

Key features of Spring Boot Actuator include:

  • Health checks and monitoring
  • Metrics collection and reporting
  • Custom endpoint creation
  • Environment information

2️⃣ Key Concepts & Terminology

  • Endpoints: HTTP endpoints that expose application information.
  • Health Indicators: Components that check application health.
  • Metrics: Application performance and usage statistics.
  • Audit Events: Security and application activity logs.

3️⃣ Hands-on Implementation 🛠

🔹 Step 1: Adding Actuator Dependencies

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
    <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId>
</dependency>

🔹 Step 2: Configuring Actuator Endpoints

# application.yml
management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      exposure:
        include: health,metrics,info
  endpoint:
    health:
      show-details: always
  info:
    env:
      enabled: true

🔹 Step 3: Creating Custom Health Indicator

@Component
public class CustomHealthIndicator extends AbstractHealthIndicator {
    @Override
    protected void doHealthCheck(Health.Builder builder) {
        try {
            // Perform health check
            builder.up()
                   .withDetail("app", "Alive and Kicking")
                   .withDetail("error", "None");
        } catch (Exception e) {
            builder.down()
                   .withException(e);
        }
    }
}

4️⃣ Common Issues & Debugging 🐞

Common Issues and Solutions

Issue Solution
Endpoints not accessible Check endpoint exposure and security configuration
Health checks failing Verify health indicator implementation
Metrics not showing up Ensure proper metrics collection configuration

5️⃣ Q&A / Frequently Asked Questions

The main Actuator endpoints include /actuator/health, /actuator/metrics, /actuator/info, /actuator/env, and /actuator/auditevents. Each provides different aspects of application monitoring.

Actuator endpoints can be secured using Spring Security, configuring endpoint exposure, and implementing proper authentication and authorization.

6️⃣ Best Practices & Pro Tips 🚀

  • Secure sensitive endpoints
  • Customize health indicators
  • Use appropriate metrics
  • Implement proper logging
  • Monitor endpoint usage

7️⃣ Read Next 📖

8️⃣ Conclusion

Spring Boot Actuator is a powerful tool for monitoring and managing your application in production. By following best practices and implementing appropriate security measures, you can create more robust and maintainable applications.

Remember to secure your endpoints and monitor their usage to maintain application security and performance.

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