Error Handling & Fallbacks
Implement custom error handling and define fallback mechanisms for graceful degradation when services are unavailable.
Resilient Error Handling Intro
In a microservices architecture, services can fail. An API Gateway needs robust error handling and fallback mechanisms to ensure the entire system remains stable and user-friendly.
This lesson explores how Spring Cloud Gateway helps you gracefully handle errors and provide alternative responses when backend services are unavailable.
Default Gateway Errors
By default, Spring Cloud Gateway provides generic error responses when a routed service is unreachable or returns an error. These often include standard HTTP status codes (like 500 Internal Server Error, 503 Service Unavailable) and basic JSON.
While functional, these default messages are usually not user-friendly and might expose internal details. Customization is key for a good user experience.