Oracle has released Graal Cloud Native 4.2.1, its own build of the open source Micronaut framework. This version brings support for Java 21 and includes Graal Native Image, cloud integration with Google Cloud Platform (GCP), new guides for GCP, launcher and client updates, and more.
Oracle Graal Cloud Native (GCN) is a set of open source Micronaut framework modules aimed to simplify the development of cloud applications; it is designed to be compiled ahead of time with GraalVM Native Image, allowing developers building cloud native Java microservices that are supposed to start instantly using fewer resources, reducing compute costs.
GCN has expanded its cloud services support, aiming to give the freedom to the users to avoid cloud vendor lock-in. In addition to the previously supported Oracle Cloud Infrastructure and Amazon Web Services, this release brings support for Google Cloud Platform services such as Cloud Storage, Cloud SQL for MySQL Database, Secrets Manager, Identity with OpenID Connect, Cloud Logging, Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Trace, Google Kubernetes Engine, and more.
GCN 4.2.1 brings some new guides specifically for Google Cloud Platform, such as:
- Cloud Storage
- Cloud SQL for MySQL Database
- Secrets Manager
- Identity with OpenID Connect
- Cloud Logging
- Cloud Monitoring
- Cloud Trace
- Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
- Kafka
Documentation for all GCN supported public clouds can be found in the GCN Guides.
GCN 4.2.1 is designed to work with both Java 21 and Java 17; it is now possible to use Java 21 features like Virtual Threads or Scoped Values in GCN applications.
GCN modules offer out-of-the-box support for native compilation. GCN 4.2.1 modules have been integrated with the latest releases of Oracle GraalVM for JDK 21 and JDK 17, available under the GraalVM Free Terms and Conditions (GFTC) license. GCN applications compiled ahead-of-time with GraalVM Native Image require far less memory and CPU to run at scale, start up to 100x faster, and operate at peak performance immediately.
In this release, the Micronaut framework was updated from version 4.0.7 to 4.2.1, and patches have been applied to multiple Micronaut modules. A new bill of materials (BOM) consisting of specific versions of Micronaut framework 4.2.1 modules and their dependencies that are compatible was released.
Following the new BOM to include in the build files:
gradle:
dependencies {
micronautBoms(platform("cloud.graal.gcn:gcn-bom:4.2.1.3"))
...
}
maven:
<dependency>
<groupId>cloud.graal.gcn</groupId>
<artifactId>gcn-bom</artifactId>
<version>4.2.1.3</version>
<type>pom</type>
<scope>import</scope>
</dependency>
Both GCN Launcher and the GCN CLI have been updated to include the new features of GCN 4.2.1. It is possible to use the GCN Launcher to generate application starter templates for a preferred public cloud from a web browser or use GCN CLI via command line tools.
The Graal Cloud Native Extension Pack for VS Code has also been updated with the GCN 4.2.1, bringing features like:
- Support for Micronaut Framework Expression Language - allows the usage of embedded evaluated expressions in annotations, using the #{...} syntax.
- Support for Micronaul Control Panel - allow adding the required dependencies and configuration to a Micronaul project from within VS Code.
- Support for Config Maps for Graal Cloud Native applications deployed to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE).
- Enhancements to our support for working with the Oracle Autonomous Database.
- A guide for running a Graal Cloud Native application on Google Cloud Run from within VS Code.
More details about Graal Cloud Native can be found on the GCN project page.