In the previous chapter, we discussed the Spring Boot CLI installation as well as application creation and execution using the CLI. Spring Boot provides the CLI for quick application implementation with zero code friction. We also looked at Spring Boot's production-ready feature—the Actuator. The Actuator provides all the production Ops metrics and the application's health status in production. Spring Boot provides several extraordinary features.

In this chapter, we will explore another extension from Spring Boot, Spring Cloud. So what is Spring Cloud? What is it used for? How does Spring Cloud provide solutions for building robust cloud-native applications and solve common problems faced when moving to a distributed environment?

At the end of this chapter, you will have answers to these questions. And you will understand how to configure the Spring Cloud server and client for your distributed application.

This chapter will cover the following points:

• Cloud-native application architecture
• Microservices architecture:
  • Benefits
  • Challenges
• Introduction to Spring Cloud
• Usages of Spring Cloud
• Projects under Spring Cloud
• Getting started with Spring Cloud:
  • Mastering Spring Cloud Configuration management
  • Implementing the Spring Cloud Config Server
  • Implementing the Spring Cloud Config Client

Let’s look at these topics in detail.