Spring Session - Spring Boot

The completed guide can be found in the boot sample application.

Updating
Dependencies

Before you use Spring Session, you must ensure to update your dependencies. We assume you are working with a working Spring Boot web application. If you are using Maven, ensure to add the following dependencies:

pom.xml

<dependencies>
<!-- ... -->

<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.session</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-session</artifactId>
<version>1.0.2.RELEASE</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
<groupId>org.springframework.boot</groupId>
<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-redis</artifactId>
</dependency>
</dependencies>

Spring
Configuration

After adding the required dependencies, we can create our Spring configuration. The Spring configuration is responsible for creating a Servlet Filter that replaces the

HttpSession

implementation
with an implementation backed by Spring Session. Add the following Spring Configuration:

@EnableRedisHttpSession
public class HttpSessionConfig { }

The @EnableRedisHttpSession annotation creates a Spring Bean with the name of springSessionRepositoryFilter that implements Filter. The filter is what is in charge of replacing the HttpSession implementation to be backed by Spring Session. In this instance Spring Session is backed by Redis.

Configuring
the Redis Connection

Spring Boot automatically creates a

RedisConnectionFactory

that
connects Spring Session to a Redis Server on localhost on port 6379 (default port). In a production environment you need to ensure to update your configuration to point to your Redis server. For example, you can include the following in your application.properties

src/main/resources/application.properties

spring.redis.host=localhost
spring.redis.password=secret
spring.redis.port=6379

For more information, refer to Connecting
to Redis portion of the Spring Boot documentation.

Servlet
Container Initialization

Our Spring Configuration created
a Spring Bean named

springSessionRepositoryFilter

that
implements

Filter

. The

springSessionRepositoryFilter

bean
is responsible for replacing the

HttpSession

with
a custom implementation that is backed by Spring Session.

In order for our

Filter

to do its magic,
Spring needs to load our

Config

class. Last
we need to ensure that our Servlet Container (i.e. Tomcat) uses our

springSessionRepositoryFilter

for
every request. Fortunately, Spring Boot takes care of both of these steps for us.

boot
Sample Application

The boot Sample Application demonstrates how to use Spring Session to transparently leverage Redis to back a web application’s

HttpSession

when
using Spring Boot.

Running
the boot Sample Application

You can run the sample by obtaining the source code and invoking
the following command:

For the sample to work, you must install Redis 2.8+ on localhost and run it with the default port (6379). Alternatively, you can update the JedisConnectionFactory to point to a Redis server.

$ ./gradlew :samples:boot:bootRun

You should now be able to access the application at http://localhost:8080/

Exploring
the security Sample Application

Try using the application. Enter the following to log in:

Username user

Password password

Now click the Login button. You should now see a message indicating your are logged in with the user entered previously. The user’s information is stored in Redis rather than Tomcat’s

HttpSession

implementation.

How
does it work?

Instead of using Tomcat’s

HttpSession

, we
are actually persisting the values in Redis. Spring Session replaces the

HttpSession

with
an implementation that is backed by Redis. When Spring Security’s

SecurityContextPersistenceFilter

saves
the

SecurityContext

to the

HttpSession

it
is then persisted into Redis.

When a new

HttpSession

is created, Spring
Session creates a cookie named SESSION in your browser that contains the id of your session. Go ahead and view the cookies (click for help with Chrome or Firefox).

If you like, you can easily remove the session using redis-cli. For example, on a Linux based system you can type:

$ redis-cli keys '*' | xargs redis-cli del

The Redis documentation has instructions for installing redis-cli.

Alternatively, you can also delete the explicit key. Enter the following into your terminal ensuring to replace

7e8383a4-082c-4ffe-a4bc-c40fd3363c5e

with
the value of your SESSION cookie:

$ redis-cli del spring:session:sessions:7e8383a4-082c-4ffe-a4bc-c40fd3363c5e

Now visit the application at http://localhost:8080/ and observe that we are no longer authenticated.