Spring Boot Actuator

1. Introduction

Spring Boot Actuator is used for monitoring and managing applications.

It provides:

• Application health status

• Metrics and performance data

• Internal system information

2. Why Use Actuator

• Monitor application health

• Reduce downtime

• Improve performance

• Track system behavior

• Support production monitoring

3. Add Dependency

Maven

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

Gradle

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implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-actuator'

4. Configuration in application.properties

Change Base Path

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management.endpoints.web.base-path=/details

Enable Specific Endpoint

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management.endpoint.metrics.enabled=true

Include Endpoints

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management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=metrics,info

Include All Endpoints

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management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=*

Exclude Endpoints

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management.endpoints.web.exposure.exclude=info

5. Common Actuator Endpoints

• /actuator → List all endpoints

• /actuator/health → Application health

• /actuator/beans → All beans

• /actuator/mappings → All request mappings

• /actuator/metrics → Application metrics

6. Example Controller

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@RestController
@RequestMapping("/get")
public class RESTfulController {

    @Autowired
    UserEntity entity;

    @GetMapping("/data")
    public UserEntity getEntity() {
        return entity;
    }
}

7. Health Check Example

Open browser:

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http://localhost:8080/actuator/health

Output:

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{
  "status": "UP"
}

8. Key Points

• Only health endpoint is enabled by default

• Other endpoints must be enabled manually

• Can customize endpoint path

• Useful for production monitoring

9. Security Note

• Do not expose sensitive endpoints publicly

• Secure endpoints using authentication

• Use firewall or Spring Security

10. Conclusion

• Actuator is essential for production applications

• Helps monitor and manage system easily

• Improves reliability and performance