Spring Boot - Hystrix

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Hystrix is a library from Netflix. Hystrix isolates the points of access between the services, stops cascading failures across them and provides the fallback options.

For example, when you are calling a 3^rd party application, it takes more time to send the response. So at that time, the control goes to the fallback method and returns the custom response to your application.

In this chapter you are going to see How to implement the Hystrix in a Spring Boot application.

First, we need to add the Spring Cloud Starter Hystrix dependency in our build configuration file.

Maven users can add the following dependency in the pom.xml file −

<dependency>
   <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
   <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-hystrix</artifactId>
</dependency>

Gradle users can add the following dependency in the build.gradle file −

compile('org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-hystrix')

Now, add the @EnableHystrix annotation into your main Spring Boot application class file. The @EnableHystrix annotation is used to enable the Hystrix functionalities into your Spring Boot application.

The main Spring Boot application class file code is given below −

package com.tutorialspoint.hystrixapp;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.cloud.netflix.hystrix.EnableHystrix;

@SpringBootApplication
@EnableHystrix
public class HystrixappApplication {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SpringApplication.run(HystrixappApplication.class, args);
   }
}

Now write a simple Rest Controller such that it returns the String after 3 seconds from the requested time.

@RequestMapping(value = "/")
public String hello() throws InterruptedException {
   Thread.sleep(3000);
   return "Welcome Hystrix";
}

Now, add the @Hystrix command and @HystrixProperty for the Rest API and define the timeout in milliseconds value.

@HystrixCommand(fallbackMethod = "fallback_hello", commandProperties = {
   @HystrixProperty(name = "execution.isolation.thread.timeoutInMilliseconds", value = "1000")
})

Next, define the fallback method fallback_hello() if the request takes a long time to respond.

private String fallback_hello() {
   return "Request fails. It takes long time to response";
}

The complete Rest Controller class file that contains REST API and Hystrix properties is shown here −

@RequestMapping(value = "/")
@HystrixCommand(fallbackMethod = "fallback_hello", commandProperties = {
   @HystrixProperty(name = "execution.isolation.thread.timeoutInMilliseconds", value = "1000")
})
public String hello() throws InterruptedException {
   Thread.sleep(3000);
   return "Welcome Hystrix";
}
private String fallback_hello() {
   return "Request fails. It takes long time to response";
}

In this example, REST API written in main Spring Boot application class file itself.

package com.tutorialspoint.hystrixapp;

import org.springframework.boot.SpringApplication;
import com.netflix.hystrix.contrib.javanica.annotation.HystrixProperty;
import org.springframework.boot.autoconfigure.SpringBootApplication;
import org.springframework.cloud.netflix.hystrix.EnableHystrix;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RequestMapping;
import org.springframework.web.bind.annotation.RestController;

import com.netflix.hystrix.contrib.javanica.annotation.HystrixCommand;

@SpringBootApplication
@EnableHystrix
@RestController
public class HystrixappApplication {
   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SpringApplication.run(HystrixappApplication.class, args);
   }
   @RequestMapping(value = "/")
   @HystrixCommand(fallbackMethod = "fallback_hello", commandProperties = {
      @HystrixProperty(name = "execution.isolation.thread.timeoutInMilliseconds", value = "1000")
   })
   public String hello() throws InterruptedException {
      Thread.sleep(3000);
      return "Welcome Hystrix";
   }
   private String fallback_hello() {
      return "Request fails. It takes long time to response";
   }
}

The complete build configuration file is given below.

Maven – pom.xml file

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns = "http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" 
   xmlns:xsi = "http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
   xsi:schemaLocation = "http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 
   http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
   
   <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
   <groupId>com.tutorialspoint</groupId>
   <artifactId>hystrixapp</artifactId>
   <version>0.0.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
   <packaging>jar</packaging>
   <name>hystrixapp</name>
   <description>Demo project for Spring Boot</description>

   <parent>
      <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-parent</artifactId>
      <version>1.5.9.RELEASE</version>
      <relativePath/> <!-- lookup parent from repository -->
   </parent>

   <properties>
      <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
      <project.reporting.outputEncoding>UTF-8</project.reporting.outputEncoding>
      <java.version>1.8</java.version>
      <spring-cloud.version>Edgware.RELEASE</spring-cloud.version>
   </properties>

   <dependencies>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-cloud-starter-hystrix</artifactId>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-web</artifactId>
      </dependency>
      <dependency>
         <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
         <artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
         <scope>test</scope>
      </dependency>
   </dependencies>

   <dependencyManagement>
      <dependencies>
         <dependency>
            <groupId>org.springframework.cloud</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-cloud-dependencies</artifactId>
            <version>${spring-cloud.version}</version>
            <type>pom</type>
            <scope>import</scope>
         </dependency>
      </dependencies>
   </dependencyManagement>

   <build>
      <plugins>
         <plugin>
            <groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
            <artifactId>spring-boot-maven-plugin</artifactId>
         </plugin>
      </plugins>
   </build>
   
</project>

Gradle – build.gradle

buildscript {
   ext {
      springBootVersion = '1.5.9.RELEASE'
   }
   repositories {
      mavenCentral()
   }
   dependencies {
      classpath("org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-gradle-plugin:${springBootVersion}")
   }
}
apply plugin: 'java'
apply plugin: 'eclipse'
apply plugin: 'org.springframework.boot'

group = 'com.tutorialspoint'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
sourceCompatibility = 1.8

repositories {
   mavenCentral()
}
ext {
   springCloudVersion = 'Edgware.RELEASE'
}
dependencies {
   compile('org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-starter-hystrix')
   compile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web')
   testCompile('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test')
}
dependencyManagement {
   imports {
      mavenBom "org.springframework.cloud:spring-cloud-dependencies:${springCloudVersion}"
   }
}

You can create an executable JAR file, and run the Spring Boot application by using the following Maven or Gradle commands −

For Maven, use the command as shown −

mvn clean install

After “BUILD SUCCESS”, you can find the JAR file under the target directory.

For Gradle, use the command as shown −

gradle clean build

After “BUILD SUCCESSFUL”, you can find the JAR file under the build/libs directory.

Now, run the JAR file by using the command given below −

java –jar <JARFILE> 

This will start the application on the Tomcat port 8080 as shown below −

Now, hit the URL http://localhost:8080/ from your web browser, and see the Hystrix response. The API takes 3 seconds to respond, but Hystrix timeout is 1 second.