Spring Boot for Apache Geode and Pivotal GemFire Released (Ver. 1.2.0)

Released toward the end of August 2019, Spring Boot for Apache Geode and Pivotal GemFire (SBDG) is now available. Set to align SBDG onto the latest GemFire/Geode and Spring bits, this release includes a variety of new features the blend both convention and choice to help you customize the behavior of your Spring applications. It’s a great place to start when building Apache Geode or Pivotal GemFire applications with Spring.

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Focused on helping developers stay productive and solve important, relevant problems, this update includes new dependencies, support for caching use cases and patterns, hybrid cloud deployments, and more. With an easy transition from previous versions of SBDG, the focus on developer productivity makes it easy for you to get up and running quickly and reliably with the latest version.

The Bits of SBDG

The 1.2.0 version of SBDG begins with a baseline release to align with the latest bits in GemFire/Geode and Spring, including:

• Spring Framework 5.2.0.RC1

• Spring Boot 2.2.0.M5

• Spring Data Moore-RC2/2.2.0.RC2

• Spring Session Corn-M3/2.2.0.M3

Spring Data Moore allows Apache Geode 1.9.0 and Pivotal GemFire 9.8.3 to join the list of bits. Spring Data Moore RC3 released shortly following this version of SBDG, which includes dependency updrafts, API refinements, and improvements to documentation from Spring and bug fixes.

Use Cases and Patterns

Support within SBDG now includes three of the most common caching design patterns:

• Look-Aside Caching

• Inline Caching

• Near Caching

Support for each features a guide with example code to make it easier for developers to apply each pattern.

Along with this coverage, a guide with example code is available for HTTP Session State Caching, one of the most common use cases for caching. Its popularity is estimated to continue.

The reason behind this new piece to SBDG connects to the importance of these patterns and use case for cloud-native Java development. It’s quickly becoming a common and critical element as the purpose of caching shifts from its traditional purpose, which was to improve performance when accessing data from a regional database. More so today, caching can be used when a Microservice becomes the new data source for an application to reach information. The goal is to minimize unnecessary network calls since they’re inherently prone to failing when network-hopping.

Hybrid Cloud Deployments

These arrangements are common for data that needs to remain protected and kept on the premises. Companies typically use hybrid cloud arrangements to address this, and also as an intermediate step before fully migrating to the cloud. Hybrid deployments allow for this incremental approach to taking things fully to the cloud.

This alternative to an all-or-nothing migration approach is supported by SBDG when running Spring Boot Java applications based in PCF. Apps can get connected to, externally-managed, standalone Apache Geode, and Pivotal GemFire clusters. Additional support is given, through this upgrade, for:

• Connecting to multiple Pivotal Cloud Cache instances

• Targeting Pivotal Cloud Cache instances

Easy Transition

With a deep hope to help users and customers, this latest version of SBDG is easy, quick-to-install, and reliable. With very little code or configuration changes, switch making should work. It is because the latest version helps developers switch from open source or Apache Geode to commercial/Pivotal Cloud Cache. It also enables you to move over from non-managed environments to managed ones like Pivotal Cloud Foundry.

The transition doesn’t just move in one direction, and developers using SBDG 1.2.0 can successfully move back and forth without any hiccups. This fluidity gives you the chance to choose how you want to develop your application without losing the use of this helpful tool.

Changes on Deck

Keeping developer productivity in mind when setting a schedule for any forthcoming changes, SBDG plans to introduce a few new features, including:

• A new annotation, @EnableClusterAware,  that works with the @SpringBootApplication class to enable a move from local development context to a client/server without worrying about connections details and the configuration of the original cluster.

• The ability to assign users with specific roles to a deployed Spring Boot application when running an app in a PCF context.

• A new support guide with example code covering multi-site, WAN technologies as they apply to the cache.

• The option to select Apache Geode when developing Spring Boot applications, providing you with the  spring-geode-starter dependency.

These forthcoming updates are just the first of many you’ll most likely see as SBDG continues to improve the experience for developers. Stay tuned!

Further Reading

[DZone Refcard] Core Spring Data

Spring Data and In-Memory Data Management In Action [Video]

Spring Data Geode Is Out!