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