Graceful Shutdown

Why Graceful Shutdown Matters

Spring Boot graceful shutdown (server.shutdown=graceful) waits for in-flight requests to complete before stopping. In Kubernetes production deployments with rolling updates, graceful shutdown eliminates dropped requests during pod termination—completing active requests within timeout period (default 30s) while rejecting new requests for zero-downtime deployments.

Problem: Immediate shutdown drops in-flight requests during Kubernetes rolling updates.

Solution: server.shutdown=graceful with spring.lifecycle.timeout-per-shutdown-phase.

Implementation Example

// Implementation details for graceful-shutdown
// See full guide for comprehensive examples

Production Configuration

server:
  shutdown: graceful # => Wait for in-flight requests
spring:
  lifecycle:
    timeout-per-shutdown-phase: 30s # => Max wait time

Production Patterns

Best Practices:

• Follow Spring Boot conventions
• Test in staging before production
• Monitor metrics and health checks
• Use environment-specific configuration

Trade-offs

Production recommendation: Always enable graceful shutdown in Kubernetes. Essential for zero-downtime deployments.

Next Steps

• See related in-the-field guides for comprehensive production patterns