The role of the Config Server while using Spring Cloud Config seems to be pretty dumb and hosting it seems to be an unnecessary overhead. Is there a way to get the Clients to directly read configs from the git repo?
You can let Spring Boot look at specific locations for the config files: https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/html/boot-features-external-config.html#boot-features-external-config-application-property-files
If you set this location to your cloned git repo (checked out on the branch you need) and solve the update from the origin repository, this might work.
It is achievable via the embedding config server approach
Do refer to Embedding The Config Server section
If you want to read the configuration for an application directly from the backend repository (instead of from the config server), you basically want an embedded config server with no endpoints. You can switch off the endpoints entirely by not using the #EnableConfigServer annotation (set spring.cloud.config.server.bootstrap=true).
Related
I am using Spring Cloud Config Server first time and have a basic query.
Spring Config server externalises the configuration to a separate git repository.
Why would I create a separate repository just for the configurations?
Is not it advisable to have mono repository with all application code and configurations in a single repo than creating a separate one just for configurations.
We have multiple micro services all present in the same repository. Should not the config server to be one of the micro service present in the same repository where the other application code is?
So, in my multi-module gradle project, I can make config-server as one of the module and give the same repository name as git backed url in config-server. Is this advisable? If yes, where should I keep the configurations in config-server? Inside resources?
Thank you.
When working with microservices it is advisible to have one repository for each microservice. The config server is a microservice as well, therefore it should be put in a separate repository.
Each microservice should have its own independent code repository and your application configuration should never be in the same repository as your source code.
You can read more about this here: Heroku's The Twelve-Factor App. Here you can find 12 best practices to use when building microservices, but for this question I recommend looking at
1st factor: The codebase
3rd factor: The config
I am using Springboot and developing web services based on those. In my services, I am keeping the configuration at git instead of with project, so that I will be able to change the properties at run-time without restarting the application.
I am using a ConfigServer to fetch the configuartion and all my services are Config Client.
But the issue is my config files are fetched from git based on
-.properties file, so for ex. if my application name is demo and active profile is testing, then the config file which is getting fetched from git is demo-testing.properties.
But the issue I want to have more than one config file. So how should I mention second config file?
Also the second config file is common to other services also?
So actually I want to use same config file for many services which is located at git?
This may be obvious to some and I have been trying to maintain config files for the spring application. I have spring.xml and springpath.xml so the content is different for each production and dev environment.
When I merge master to my dev branch that merges nicely and then commit the code. Create a pull request for GitHub, at this stage both config files get merged and I end up having dev config files into the master branch too, which is bit annoying.
Is there a better to handle this, please?
thanks
I have solved similar issue by using the Spring Cloud Config, where i have different configuration is maintained for development, staging and production.
All the config are maintained in git (not Github; but definitely not a killer difference). Spring Cloud Config server and config client can help you to get the configuration from git server based on profile that you supply when running the app.
Note:
Since i am using Spring boot, things were really smooth and easy.
I want to use spring cloud config to externalise application properties. I have configured config-server and client, but i don't want to use git(enterprise) as source, this is due to the fact that git may be down for the maintenance. Therefore, i thought about releasing application properties to nexus as application.properties.tar.gz and do the following:
1.) When config-server starts, download the release version from nexus and then unpack the tar.gz to a file system on the server where config-server is running.
2.) The config server which will pick the unpacked properties files.
Please note that the nexus url, application.properties.tar.gz version and location are all passed as VM options to config server.
Is this a sensible option? if this not best option, please could you suggest any other options?
Thanks
kankalam
Unless the Git server is down for maintenance so frequently, I wouldn't go with that option, it seems to be an overkill. Also the Nexus server might go down, so there's no advantage on doing that.
The config server does not read the configuration from the repo once and again, the repository is cloned when configuration is requested. From the docs:
The default strategy for locating property sources is to clone a git
repository (at spring.cloud.config.server.git.uri) and use it to
initialize a mini SpringApplication. The mini-application’s
Environment is used to enumerate property sources and publish them via
a JSON endpoint.
With that in mind, you need to check that the git server you use is available before you start the application or before you refresh its context. If you think it might be a problem, you still have two options:
Set up a dedicated Git server for your application (Check out Gogs as a lightweight option).
Go the "native" way and load the files from the file system. This way you don't have a version control of the configuration files, but you could do it separately into your project.
I'm starting to use Spring Cloud Config and would like to give a way for clients to override properties that come from cofnig server. However, after reading https://docs.spring.io/spring-boot/docs/current/reference/html/boot-features-external-config.html, it isn't apparent when the Cloud Configuration applies.
I've also read http://cloud.spring.io/spring-cloud-config/spring-cloud-config.html and it talks about overrides. But they seem to be the opposite of what I want (those overrides are for overriding the client provided properties).
So, where does the Cloud Config fit in the ordering? Would I still be able to give a local application.properties file on the classpath to override certain Cloud Config properties?
The git commit/push process is part of the process, actually...Spring Cloud Config uses git to handle the config files, changes, auditing, etc., as git is ideally suited for that, & Config leverages those strengths.
If you're just looking for a way to expedite testing of config changes and are willing to accept the tradeoffs, you can use a local (or local network) repo for your config repository for testing. I realize this isn't what you're asking specifically, but it's an option that may help, assuming you're using the Config server app's application.properties to point to the underlying git repo. If so, you can override spring.cloud.config.server.git.uri on the command line like so:
java -Dspring.cloud.config.server.git.uri=${HOME}/testing/config-repo -jar your_jar_here.jar
This will allow you to tweak the config settings for client apps/services that obtain their settings from the Config server without affecting the production config files (even branches).
I hope this helps. If not, or if I've misunderstood your goals or constraints, please clarify (a use case or two might help me triangulate better, if you can share them) and I'll take another run at it. :)
Cheers,
Mark