To enable Actuator in a Spring Boot application, you need to include the necessary dependency in your pom.xml (for Maven projects) or build.gradle (for Gradle projects):
Maven:
<dependency> <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId> <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-actuator</artifactId> </dependency>
Once added, Spring Boot Actuator is enabled by default, exposing some basic endpoints.
How to use Actuator endpoints:
1. Access Endpoints:
After adding the dependency, several endpoints are available under /actuator, such as:
- /actuator/health: Shows the application's health.
- /actuator/info: Displays basic application info.
You can access these by simply visiting the URL in your browser or using a tool like curl:
bash
curl http://localhost:8080/actuator/health
- Enable additional endpoints:
By default, only a few endpoints are enabled. You can enable more endpoints by adding configurations in application.properties:
properties
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info,metrics,env
Things to keep in mind:
1. Security: In production, it's essential to secure sensitive endpoints using Spring Security.
2. Customization: You can customize endpoints and their paths in the application.properties or application.yml.
By following these steps, you can effectively monitor and manage your application using Spring Boot Actuator's powerful features.