Monitoring and Management Over HTTP

If you are developing a web application, Spring Boot Actuator auto-configures all enabled endpoints to be exposed over HTTP. The default convention is to use the id of the endpoint with a prefix of /actuator as the URL path. For example, health is exposed as /actuator/health.

Actuator is supported natively with Spring MVC, Spring WebFlux, and Jersey. If both Jersey and Spring MVC are available, Spring MVC is used.

Jackson is a required dependency in order to get the correct JSON responses as documented in the API documentation.

Customizing the Management Endpoint Paths

Sometimes, it is useful to customize the prefix for the management endpoints. For example, your application might already use /actuator for another purpose. You can use the management.endpoints.web.base-path property to change the prefix for your management endpoint, as the following example shows:

Properties
YAML

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

management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      base-path: "/manage"

The preceding application.properties example changes the endpoint from /actuator/{id} to /manage/{id} (for example, /manage/info).

Unless the management port has been configured to expose endpoints by using a different HTTP port, management.endpoints.web.base-path is relative to server.servlet.context-path (for servlet web applications) or spring.webflux.base-path (for reactive web applications). If management.server.port is configured, management.endpoints.web.base-path is relative to management.server.base-path.

If you want to map endpoints to a different path, you can use the management.endpoints.web.path-mapping property.

The following example remaps /actuator/health to /healthcheck:

Properties
YAML

management.endpoints.web.base-path=/
management.endpoints.web.path-mapping.health=healthcheck

management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      base-path: "/"
      path-mapping:
        health: "healthcheck"

Customizing the Management Server Port

Exposing management endpoints by using the default HTTP port is a sensible choice for cloud-based deployments. If, however, your application runs inside your own data center, you may prefer to expose endpoints by using a different HTTP port.

You can set the management.server.port property to change the HTTP port, as the following example shows:

Properties
YAML

management.server.port=8081

management:
  server:
    port: 8081

On Cloud Foundry, by default, applications receive requests only on port 8080 for both HTTP and TCP routing. If you want to use a custom management port on Cloud Foundry, you need to explicitly set up the application’s routes to forward traffic to the custom port.

Configuring Management-specific SSL

When configured to use a custom port, you can also configure the management server with its own SSL by using the various management.server.ssl.* properties. For example, doing so lets a management server be available over HTTP while the main application uses HTTPS, as the following property settings show:

Properties
YAML

server.port=8443
server.ssl.enabled=true
server.ssl.key-store=classpath:store.jks
server.ssl.key-password=secret
management.server.port=8080
management.server.ssl.enabled=false

server:
  port: 8443
  ssl:
    enabled: true
    key-store: "classpath:store.jks"
    key-password: "secret"
management:
  server:
    port: 8080
    ssl:
      enabled: false

Alternatively, both the main server and the management server can use SSL but with different key stores, as follows:

Properties
YAML

server.port=8443
server.ssl.enabled=true
server.ssl.key-store=classpath:main.jks
server.ssl.key-password=secret
management.server.port=8080
management.server.ssl.enabled=true
management.server.ssl.key-store=classpath:management.jks
management.server.ssl.key-password=secret

server:
  port: 8443
  ssl:
    enabled: true
    key-store: "classpath:main.jks"
    key-password: "secret"
management:
  server:
    port: 8080
    ssl:
      enabled: true
      key-store: "classpath:management.jks"
      key-password: "secret"

Customizing the Management Server Address

You can customize the address on which the management endpoints are available by setting the management.server.address property. Doing so can be useful if you want to listen only on an internal or ops-facing network or to listen only for connections from localhost.

You can listen on a different address only when the port differs from the main server port.

The following example application.properties does not allow remote management connections:

Properties
YAML

management.server.port=8081
management.server.address=127.0.0.1

management:
  server:
    port: 8081
    address: "127.0.0.1"

Disabling HTTP Endpoints

If you do not want to expose endpoints over HTTP, you can set the management port to -1, as the following example shows:

Properties
YAML

management.server.port=-1

management:
  server:
    port: -1

You can also achieve this by using the management.endpoints.web.exposure.exclude property, as the following example shows:

Properties
YAML

management.endpoints.web.exposure.exclude=*

management:
  endpoints:
    web:
      exposure:
        exclude: "*"