Reloading Changes

The CAS spring cloud configuration server is able to consume properties and settings via the profiles outlined here. The server is constantly monitoring changes to the underlying property sources automatically, but has no way to broadcast those changes to its own clients, such as the CAS server itself, which would act as a client of the configuration server expecting change notifications to quietly reload its configuration.

Therefore, in order to broadcast such change events CAS presents various endpoints that allow the adopter to refresh the configuration as needed. This means that an adopter would change a required CAS settings and then would submit a request to CAS to refresh its current state. All CAS internal components that are affected by the external change are quietly reloaded and the setting takes immediate effect, completely removing the need for container restarts or CAS re-deployments.

:information_source: Do Not Discriminate!

Most if not all CAS settings are eligible candidates for reloads. CAS should be smart enough to reload the appropriate configuration, regardless of setting/module that ends up using that setting. All is fair game, as the entire CAS web application inclusive of all modules and all relevant settings may be completely and utterly reloadable. If you find an instance where this statement does not hold, please speak up.

Reload Strategy

CAS uses Spring Cloud to manage the internal state of the configuration. The configuration server that is provided by Spring Cloud embedded in CAS is constantly monitoring sources that house CAS settings and upon changes will auto-refresh itself.

The CAS application context and runtime environment that contains all Spring components and bean definitions can be reloaded using the following administrative endpoints:

 Provides information about Spring Cloud enabled/disabled features.

 Refresh the application configuration via a `POST` to let components reload and recognize new values.

 Updates each instances environment with the specified key/value pair across multiple instances.

 Updates each instances environment with the specified key/value pair across multiple instances.

 Clears the RefreshScope cache and rebinds configuration properties.

 Clears the RefreshScope cache and rebinds configuration properties.

 Control the status of the Spring Cloud Service Registry.

 Control the status of the Spring Cloud Service Registry.


In the event that the standalone configuration profile is used to control and direct settings and Spring Cloud configuration server is disabled, CAS may begin to automatically watch and monitor the configuration files indicated by the profile and will auto-reload the state of the runtime application context automatically.

Support is enabled by including the following dependency in the WAR overlay:

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<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apereo.cas</groupId>
    <artifactId>cas-server-core-events-configuration</artifactId>
    <version>${cas.version}</version>
</dependency>
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implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-core-events-configuration:${project.'cas.version'}"
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dependencyManagement {
    imports {
        mavenBom "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}"
    }
}

dependencies {
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-core-events-configuration"
}
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dependencies {
    /*
        The following platform references should be included automatically and are listed here for reference only.

        implementation enforcedPlatform("org.apereo.cas:cas-server-support-bom:${project.'cas.version'}")
        implementation platform(org.springframework.boot.gradle.plugin.SpringBootPlugin.BOM_COORDINATES)
        
    */
    implementation "org.apereo.cas:cas-server-core-events-configuration"
}

Spring application context will fail to refresh beans that are excluded (or conditionally activated/created) at initialization/startup time, because there is nothing to refresh to begin with. Refresh requests and beans marked with @RefreshScope only work in scenarios where there is an existing reference to a bean in the application context hierarchy that can be refreshed; beans or configuration classes that are skipped during the startup and application context initialization will never be refreshable, because they are not re-created upon refresh requests. In other words, refresh requests only work best when there is a setting or property whose existing value changes from A to B; if there was no A to begin with, or if A is being removed, refresh requests and the reload strategy may fall short.

Actuator Endpoints

The following endpoints are provided by CAS:

 Reports back general health status of the system, produced by various monitors.

 Reports back general health status of the system, produced by various monitors.