Netty

Since Camel 2.14

Both producer and consumer are supported

The Netty component in Camel is a socket communication component, based on the Netty project version 4. Netty is a NIO client server framework that enables quick and easy development of networkServerInitializerFactory applications such as protocol servers and clients. Netty greatly simplifies and streamlines network programming such as TCP and UDP socket server.

This Camel component supports both producer and consumer endpoints.

The Netty component has several options and allows fine-grained control of a number of TCP/UDP communication parameters (buffer sizes, keepAlive, tcpNoDelay, etc.), and facilitates both In-Only and In-Out communication on a Camel route.

Maven users will need to add the following dependency to their pom.xml for this component:

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.apache.camel</groupId>
    <artifactId>camel-netty</artifactId>
    <version>x.x.x</version>
    <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

URI format

The URI scheme for a netty component is as follows

TCP
netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:99999[?options]
UDP
netty:udp://remotehost:99999/[?options]

This component supports producer and consumer endpoints for both TCP and UDP.

Configuring Options

Camel components are configured on two separate levels:

  • component level

  • endpoint level

Configuring Component Options

At the component level, you set general and shared configurations that are, then, inherited by the endpoints. It is the highest configuration level.

For example, a component may have security settings, credentials for authentication, urls for network connection and so forth.

Some components only have a few options, and others may have many. Because components typically have pre-configured defaults that are commonly used, then you may often only need to configure a few options on a component; or none at all.

You can configure components using:

  • the Component DSL.

  • in a configuration file (application.properties, *.yaml files, etc).

  • directly in the Java code.

Configuring Endpoint Options

You usually spend more time setting up endpoints because they have many options. These options help you customize what you want the endpoint to do. The options are also categorized into whether the endpoint is used as a consumer (from), as a producer (to), or both.

Configuring endpoints is most often done directly in the endpoint URI as path and query parameters. You can also use the Endpoint DSL and DataFormat DSL as a type safe way of configuring endpoints and data formats in Java.

A good practice when configuring options is to use Property Placeholders.

Property placeholders provide a few benefits:

  • They help prevent using hardcoded urls, port numbers, sensitive information, and other settings.

  • They allow externalizing the configuration from the code.

  • They help the code to become more flexible and reusable.

The following two sections list all the options, firstly for the component followed by the endpoint.

Component Options

The Netty component supports 76 options, which are listed below.

Name Description Default Type

configuration (common)

To use the NettyConfiguration as configuration when creating endpoints.

NettyConfiguration

disconnect (common)

Whether or not to disconnect(close) from Netty Channel right after use. Can be used for both consumer and producer.

false

boolean

keepAlive (common)

Setting to ensure socket is not closed due to inactivity.

true

boolean

reuseAddress (common)

Setting to facilitate socket multiplexing.

true

boolean

reuseChannel (common)

This option allows producers and consumers (in client mode) to reuse the same Netty Channel for the lifecycle of processing the Exchange. This is useful if you need to call a server multiple times in a Camel route and want to use the same network connection. When using this, the channel is not returned to the connection pool until the Exchange is done; or disconnected if the disconnect option is set to true. The reused Channel is stored on the Exchange as an exchange property with the key NettyConstants#NETTY_CHANNEL which allows you to obtain the channel during routing and use it as well.

false

boolean

sync (common)

Setting to set endpoint as one-way or request-response.

true

boolean

tcpNoDelay (common)

Setting to improve TCP protocol performance.

true

boolean

bridgeErrorHandler (consumer)

Allows for bridging the consumer to the Camel routing Error Handler, which mean any exceptions (if possible) occurred while the Camel consumer is trying to pickup incoming messages, or the likes, will now be processed as a message and handled by the routing Error Handler. Important: This is only possible if the 3rd party component allows Camel to be alerted if an exception was thrown. Some components handle this internally only, and therefore bridgeErrorHandler is not possible. In other situations we may improve the Camel component to hook into the 3rd party component and make this possible for future releases. By default the consumer will use the org.apache.camel.spi.ExceptionHandler to deal with exceptions, that will be logged at WARN or ERROR level and ignored.

false

boolean

broadcast (consumer)

Setting to choose Multicast over UDP.

false

boolean

clientMode (consumer)

If the clientMode is true, netty consumer will connect the address as a TCP client.

false

boolean

reconnect (consumer)

Used only in clientMode in consumer, the consumer will attempt to reconnect on disconnection if this is enabled.

true

boolean

reconnectInterval (consumer)

Used if reconnect and clientMode is enabled. The interval in milli seconds to attempt reconnection.

10000

int

backlog (consumer (advanced))

Allows to configure a backlog for netty consumer (server). Note the backlog is just a best effort depending on the OS. Setting this option to a value such as 200, 500 or 1000, tells the TCP stack how long the accept queue can be If this option is not configured, then the backlog depends on OS setting.

int

bossCount (consumer (advanced))

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default bossCount parameter from Netty, which is 1. User can use this option to override the default bossCount from Netty.

1

int

bossGroup (consumer (advanced))

Set the BossGroup which could be used for handling the new connection of the server side across the NettyEndpoint.

EventLoopGroup

disconnectOnNoReply (consumer (advanced))

If sync is enabled then this option dictates NettyConsumer if it should disconnect where there is no reply to send back.

true

boolean

executorService (consumer (advanced))

To use the given EventExecutorGroup.

EventExecutorGroup

maximumPoolSize (consumer (advanced))

Sets a maximum thread pool size for the netty consumer ordered thread pool. The default size is 2 x cpu_core plus 1. Setting this value to eg 10 will then use 10 threads unless 2 x cpu_core plus 1 is a higher value, which then will override and be used. For example if there are 8 cores, then the consumer thread pool will be 17. This thread pool is used to route messages received from Netty by Camel. We use a separate thread pool to ensure ordering of messages and also in case some messages will block, then nettys worker threads (event loop) wont be affected.

int

nettyServerBootstrapFactory (consumer (advanced))

To use a custom NettyServerBootstrapFactory.

NettyServerBootstrapFactory

networkInterface (consumer (advanced))

When using UDP then this option can be used to specify a network interface by its name, such as eth0 to join a multicast group.

String

noReplyLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If sync is enabled this option dictates NettyConsumer which logging level to use when logging a there is no reply to send back.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

WARN

LoggingLevel

serverClosedChannelExceptionCaughtLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException then its logged using this logging level. This is used to avoid logging the closed channel exceptions, as clients can disconnect abruptly and then cause a flood of closed exceptions in the Netty server.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

DEBUG

LoggingLevel

serverExceptionCaughtLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an exception then its logged using this logging level.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

WARN

LoggingLevel

serverInitializerFactory (consumer (advanced))

To use a custom ServerInitializerFactory.

ServerInitializerFactory

usingExecutorService (consumer (advanced))

Whether to use ordered thread pool, to ensure events are processed orderly on the same channel.

true

boolean

connectTimeout (producer)

Time to wait for a socket connection to be available. Value is in milliseconds.

10000

int

lazyStartProducer (producer)

Whether the producer should be started lazy (on the first message). By starting lazy you can use this to allow CamelContext and routes to startup in situations where a producer may otherwise fail during starting and cause the route to fail being started. By deferring this startup to be lazy then the startup failure can be handled during routing messages via Camel’s routing error handlers. Beware that when the first message is processed then creating and starting the producer may take a little time and prolong the total processing time of the processing.

false

boolean

requestTimeout (producer)

Allows to use a timeout for the Netty producer when calling a remote server. By default no timeout is in use. The value is in milli seconds, so eg 30000 is 30 seconds. The requestTimeout is using Netty’s ReadTimeoutHandler to trigger the timeout.

long

clientInitializerFactory (producer (advanced))

To use a custom ClientInitializerFactory.

ClientInitializerFactory

correlationManager (producer (advanced))

To use a custom correlation manager to manage how request and reply messages are mapped when using request/reply with the netty producer. This should only be used if you have a way to map requests together with replies such as if there is correlation ids in both the request and reply messages. This can be used if you want to multiplex concurrent messages on the same channel (aka connection) in netty. When doing this you must have a way to correlate the request and reply messages so you can store the right reply on the inflight Camel Exchange before its continued routed. We recommend extending the TimeoutCorrelationManagerSupport when you build custom correlation managers. This provides support for timeout and other complexities you otherwise would need to implement as well. See also the producerPoolEnabled option for more details.

NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager

lazyChannelCreation (producer (advanced))

Channels can be lazily created to avoid exceptions, if the remote server is not up and running when the Camel producer is started.

true

boolean

producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted (producer (advanced))

Sets the value for the blockWhenExhausted configuration attribute. It determines whether to block when the borrowObject() method is invoked when the pool is exhausted (the maximum number of active objects has been reached).

true

boolean

producerPoolEnabled (producer (advanced))

Whether producer pool is enabled or not. Important: If you turn this off then a single shared connection is used for the producer, also if you are doing request/reply. That means there is a potential issue with interleaved responses if replies comes back out-of-order. Therefore you need to have a correlation id in both the request and reply messages so you can properly correlate the replies to the Camel callback that is responsible for continue processing the message in Camel. To do this you need to implement NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager as correlation manager and configure it via the correlationManager option. See also the correlationManager option for more details.

true

boolean

producerPoolMaxIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the cap on the number of idle instances in the pool.

100

int

producerPoolMaxTotal (producer (advanced))

Sets the cap on the number of objects that can be allocated by the pool (checked out to clients, or idle awaiting checkout) at a given time. Use a negative value for no limit. Be careful to not set this value too low (such as 1) as the pool must have space to create a producer such as when performing retries. Be mindful that the option producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is default true, and the pool will then block when there is no space, which can lead to the application to hang.

-1

int

producerPoolMaxWait (producer (advanced))

Sets the maximum duration (value in millis) the borrowObject() method should block before throwing an exception when the pool is exhausted and producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is true. When less than 0, the borrowObject() method may block indefinitely.

-1

long

producerPoolMinEvictableIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the minimum amount of time (value in millis) an object may sit idle in the pool before it is eligible for eviction by the idle object evictor.

300000

long

producerPoolMinIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the minimum number of instances allowed in the producer pool before the evictor thread (if active) spawns new objects.

int

udpConnectionlessSending (producer (advanced))

This option supports connection less udp sending which is a real fire and forget. A connected udp send receive the PortUnreachableException if no one is listen on the receiving port.

false

boolean

useByteBuf (producer (advanced))

If the useByteBuf is true, netty producer will turn the message body into ByteBuf before sending it out.

false

boolean

allowSerializedHeaders (advanced)

Only used for TCP when transferExchange is true. When set to true, serializable objects in headers and properties will be added to the exchange. Otherwise Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

boolean

autowiredEnabled (advanced)

Whether autowiring is enabled. This is used for automatic autowiring options (the option must be marked as autowired) by looking up in the registry to find if there is a single instance of matching type, which then gets configured on the component. This can be used for automatic configuring JDBC data sources, JMS connection factories, AWS Clients, etc.

true

boolean

channelGroup (advanced)

To use a explicit ChannelGroup.

ChannelGroup

nativeTransport (advanced)

Whether to use native transport instead of NIO. Native transport takes advantage of the host operating system and is only supported on some platforms. You need to add the netty JAR for the host operating system you are using. See more details at: http://netty.io/wiki/native-transports.html.

false

boolean

options (advanced)

Allows to configure additional netty options using option. as prefix. For example option.child.keepAlive=false to set the netty option child.keepAlive=false. See the Netty documentation for possible options that can be used.

Map

receiveBufferSize (advanced)

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during inbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

int

receiveBufferSizePredictor (advanced)

Configures the buffer size predictor. See details at Jetty documentation and this mail thread.

int

sendBufferSize (advanced)

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during outbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

int

transferExchange (advanced)

Only used for TCP. You can transfer the exchange over the wire instead of just the body. The following fields are transferred: In body, Out body, fault body, In headers, Out headers, fault headers, exchange properties, exchange exception. This requires that the objects are serializable. Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

boolean

udpByteArrayCodec (advanced)

For UDP only. If enabled the using byte array codec instead of Java serialization protocol.

false

boolean

unixDomainSocketPath (advanced)

Path to unix domain socket to use instead of inet socket. Host and port parameters will not be used, however required. It is ok to set dummy values for them. Must be used with nativeTransport=true and clientMode=false.

String

workerCount (advanced)

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default workerCount parameter from Netty (which is cpu_core_threads x 2). User can use this option to override the default workerCount from Netty.

int

workerGroup (advanced)

To use a explicit EventLoopGroup as the boss thread pool. For example to share a thread pool with multiple consumers or producers. By default each consumer or producer has their own worker pool with 2 x cpu count core threads.

EventLoopGroup

allowDefaultCodec (codec)

The netty component installs a default codec if both, encoder/decoder is null and textline is false. Setting allowDefaultCodec to false prevents the netty component from installing a default codec as the first element in the filter chain.

true

boolean

autoAppendDelimiter (codec)

Whether or not to auto append missing end delimiter when sending using the textline codec.

true

boolean

decoderMaxLineLength (codec)

The max line length to use for the textline codec.

1024

int

decoders (codec)

A list of decoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

delimiter (codec)

The delimiter to use for the textline codec. Possible values are LINE and NULL.

Enum values:

  • LINE

  • NULL

LINE

TextLineDelimiter

encoders (codec)

A list of encoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

encoding (codec)

The encoding (a charset name) to use for the textline codec. If not provided, Camel will use the JVM default Charset.

String

textline (codec)

Only used for TCP. If no codec is specified, you can use this flag to indicate a text line based codec; if not specified or the value is false, then Object Serialization is assumed over TCP - however only Strings are allowed to be serialized by default.

false

boolean

enabledProtocols (security)

Which protocols to enable when using SSL.

TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3

String

hostnameVerification (security)

To enable/disable hostname verification on SSLEngine.

false

boolean

keyStoreFile (security)

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

keyStoreFormat (security)

Keystore format to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to JKS if not set.

String

keyStoreResource (security)

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

needClientAuth (security)

Configures whether the server needs client authentication when using SSL.

false

boolean

passphrase (security)

Password setting to use in order to encrypt/decrypt payloads sent using SSH.

String

securityProvider (security)

Security provider to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to SunX509 if not set.

String

ssl (security)

Setting to specify whether SSL encryption is applied to this endpoint.

false

boolean

sslClientCertHeaders (security)

When enabled and in SSL mode, then the Netty consumer will enrich the Camel Message with headers having information about the client certificate such as subject name, issuer name, serial number, and the valid date range.

false

boolean

sslContextParameters (security)

To configure security using SSLContextParameters.

SSLContextParameters

sslHandler (security)

Reference to a class that could be used to return an SSL Handler.

SslHandler

trustStoreFile (security)

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

trustStoreResource (security)

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

useGlobalSslContextParameters (security)

Enable usage of global SSL context parameters.

false

boolean

Endpoint Options

The Netty endpoint is configured using URI syntax:

netty:protocol://host:port

With the following path and query parameters:

Path Parameters (3 parameters)

Name Description Default Type

protocol (common)

Required The protocol to use which can be tcp or udp.

Enum values:

  • tcp

  • udp

String

host (common)

Required The hostname. For the consumer the hostname is localhost or 0.0.0.0. For the producer the hostname is the remote host to connect to.

String

port (common)

Required The host port number.

int

Query Parameters (74 parameters)

Name Description Default Type

disconnect (common)

Whether or not to disconnect(close) from Netty Channel right after use. Can be used for both consumer and producer.

false

boolean

keepAlive (common)

Setting to ensure socket is not closed due to inactivity.

true

boolean

reuseAddress (common)

Setting to facilitate socket multiplexing.

true

boolean

reuseChannel (common)

This option allows producers and consumers (in client mode) to reuse the same Netty Channel for the lifecycle of processing the Exchange. This is useful if you need to call a server multiple times in a Camel route and want to use the same network connection. When using this, the channel is not returned to the connection pool until the Exchange is done; or disconnected if the disconnect option is set to true. The reused Channel is stored on the Exchange as an exchange property with the key NettyConstants#NETTY_CHANNEL which allows you to obtain the channel during routing and use it as well.

false

boolean

sync (common)

Setting to set endpoint as one-way or request-response.

true

boolean

tcpNoDelay (common)

Setting to improve TCP protocol performance.

true

boolean

broadcast (consumer)

Setting to choose Multicast over UDP.

false

boolean

clientMode (consumer)

If the clientMode is true, netty consumer will connect the address as a TCP client.

false

boolean

reconnect (consumer)

Used only in clientMode in consumer, the consumer will attempt to reconnect on disconnection if this is enabled.

true

boolean

reconnectInterval (consumer)

Used if reconnect and clientMode is enabled. The interval in milli seconds to attempt reconnection.

10000

int

backlog (consumer (advanced))

Allows to configure a backlog for netty consumer (server). Note the backlog is just a best effort depending on the OS. Setting this option to a value such as 200, 500 or 1000, tells the TCP stack how long the accept queue can be If this option is not configured, then the backlog depends on OS setting.

int

bossCount (consumer (advanced))

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default bossCount parameter from Netty, which is 1. User can use this option to override the default bossCount from Netty.

1

int

bossGroup (consumer (advanced))

Set the BossGroup which could be used for handling the new connection of the server side across the NettyEndpoint.

EventLoopGroup

bridgeErrorHandler (consumer (advanced))

Allows for bridging the consumer to the Camel routing Error Handler, which mean any exceptions (if possible) occurred while the Camel consumer is trying to pickup incoming messages, or the likes, will now be processed as a message and handled by the routing Error Handler. Important: This is only possible if the 3rd party component allows Camel to be alerted if an exception was thrown. Some components handle this internally only, and therefore bridgeErrorHandler is not possible. In other situations we may improve the Camel component to hook into the 3rd party component and make this possible for future releases. By default the consumer will use the org.apache.camel.spi.ExceptionHandler to deal with exceptions, that will be logged at WARN or ERROR level and ignored.

false

boolean

disconnectOnNoReply (consumer (advanced))

If sync is enabled then this option dictates NettyConsumer if it should disconnect where there is no reply to send back.

true

boolean

exceptionHandler (consumer (advanced))

To let the consumer use a custom ExceptionHandler. Notice if the option bridgeErrorHandler is enabled then this option is not in use. By default the consumer will deal with exceptions, that will be logged at WARN or ERROR level and ignored.

ExceptionHandler

exchangePattern (consumer (advanced))

Sets the exchange pattern when the consumer creates an exchange.

Enum values:

  • InOnly

  • InOut

ExchangePattern

nettyServerBootstrapFactory (consumer (advanced))

To use a custom NettyServerBootstrapFactory.

NettyServerBootstrapFactory

networkInterface (consumer (advanced))

When using UDP then this option can be used to specify a network interface by its name, such as eth0 to join a multicast group.

String

noReplyLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If sync is enabled this option dictates NettyConsumer which logging level to use when logging a there is no reply to send back.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

WARN

LoggingLevel

serverClosedChannelExceptionCaughtLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException then its logged using this logging level. This is used to avoid logging the closed channel exceptions, as clients can disconnect abruptly and then cause a flood of closed exceptions in the Netty server.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

DEBUG

LoggingLevel

serverExceptionCaughtLogLevel (consumer (advanced))

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an exception then its logged using this logging level.

Enum values:

  • TRACE

  • DEBUG

  • INFO

  • WARN

  • ERROR

  • OFF

WARN

LoggingLevel

serverInitializerFactory (consumer (advanced))

To use a custom ServerInitializerFactory.

ServerInitializerFactory

usingExecutorService (consumer (advanced))

Whether to use ordered thread pool, to ensure events are processed orderly on the same channel.

true

boolean

connectTimeout (producer)

Time to wait for a socket connection to be available. Value is in milliseconds.

10000

int

requestTimeout (producer)

Allows to use a timeout for the Netty producer when calling a remote server. By default no timeout is in use. The value is in milli seconds, so eg 30000 is 30 seconds. The requestTimeout is using Netty’s ReadTimeoutHandler to trigger the timeout.

long

clientInitializerFactory (producer (advanced))

To use a custom ClientInitializerFactory.

ClientInitializerFactory

correlationManager (producer (advanced))

To use a custom correlation manager to manage how request and reply messages are mapped when using request/reply with the netty producer. This should only be used if you have a way to map requests together with replies such as if there is correlation ids in both the request and reply messages. This can be used if you want to multiplex concurrent messages on the same channel (aka connection) in netty. When doing this you must have a way to correlate the request and reply messages so you can store the right reply on the inflight Camel Exchange before its continued routed. We recommend extending the TimeoutCorrelationManagerSupport when you build custom correlation managers. This provides support for timeout and other complexities you otherwise would need to implement as well. See also the producerPoolEnabled option for more details.

NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager

lazyChannelCreation (producer (advanced))

Channels can be lazily created to avoid exceptions, if the remote server is not up and running when the Camel producer is started.

true

boolean

lazyStartProducer (producer (advanced))

Whether the producer should be started lazy (on the first message). By starting lazy you can use this to allow CamelContext and routes to startup in situations where a producer may otherwise fail during starting and cause the route to fail being started. By deferring this startup to be lazy then the startup failure can be handled during routing messages via Camel’s routing error handlers. Beware that when the first message is processed then creating and starting the producer may take a little time and prolong the total processing time of the processing.

false

boolean

producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted (producer (advanced))

Sets the value for the blockWhenExhausted configuration attribute. It determines whether to block when the borrowObject() method is invoked when the pool is exhausted (the maximum number of active objects has been reached).

true

boolean

producerPoolEnabled (producer (advanced))

Whether producer pool is enabled or not. Important: If you turn this off then a single shared connection is used for the producer, also if you are doing request/reply. That means there is a potential issue with interleaved responses if replies comes back out-of-order. Therefore you need to have a correlation id in both the request and reply messages so you can properly correlate the replies to the Camel callback that is responsible for continue processing the message in Camel. To do this you need to implement NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager as correlation manager and configure it via the correlationManager option. See also the correlationManager option for more details.

true

boolean

producerPoolMaxIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the cap on the number of idle instances in the pool.

100

int

producerPoolMaxTotal (producer (advanced))

Sets the cap on the number of objects that can be allocated by the pool (checked out to clients, or idle awaiting checkout) at a given time. Use a negative value for no limit. Be careful to not set this value too low (such as 1) as the pool must have space to create a producer such as when performing retries. Be mindful that the option producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is default true, and the pool will then block when there is no space, which can lead to the application to hang.

-1

int

producerPoolMaxWait (producer (advanced))

Sets the maximum duration (value in millis) the borrowObject() method should block before throwing an exception when the pool is exhausted and producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is true. When less than 0, the borrowObject() method may block indefinitely.

-1

long

producerPoolMinEvictableIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the minimum amount of time (value in millis) an object may sit idle in the pool before it is eligible for eviction by the idle object evictor.

300000

long

producerPoolMinIdle (producer (advanced))

Sets the minimum number of instances allowed in the producer pool before the evictor thread (if active) spawns new objects.

int

udpConnectionlessSending (producer (advanced))

This option supports connection less udp sending which is a real fire and forget. A connected udp send receive the PortUnreachableException if no one is listen on the receiving port.

false

boolean

useByteBuf (producer (advanced))

If the useByteBuf is true, netty producer will turn the message body into ByteBuf before sending it out.

false

boolean

allowSerializedHeaders (advanced)

Only used for TCP when transferExchange is true. When set to true, serializable objects in headers and properties will be added to the exchange. Otherwise Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

boolean

channelGroup (advanced)

To use a explicit ChannelGroup.

ChannelGroup

nativeTransport (advanced)

Whether to use native transport instead of NIO. Native transport takes advantage of the host operating system and is only supported on some platforms. You need to add the netty JAR for the host operating system you are using. See more details at: http://netty.io/wiki/native-transports.html.

false

boolean

options (advanced)

Allows to configure additional netty options using option. as prefix. For example option.child.keepAlive=false to set the netty option child.keepAlive=false. See the Netty documentation for possible options that can be used.

Map

receiveBufferSize (advanced)

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during inbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

int

receiveBufferSizePredictor (advanced)

Configures the buffer size predictor. See details at Jetty documentation and this mail thread.

int

sendBufferSize (advanced)

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during outbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

int

synchronous (advanced)

Sets whether synchronous processing should be strictly used.

false

boolean

transferExchange (advanced)

Only used for TCP. You can transfer the exchange over the wire instead of just the body. The following fields are transferred: In body, Out body, fault body, In headers, Out headers, fault headers, exchange properties, exchange exception. This requires that the objects are serializable. Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

boolean

udpByteArrayCodec (advanced)

For UDP only. If enabled the using byte array codec instead of Java serialization protocol.

false

boolean

unixDomainSocketPath (advanced)

Path to unix domain socket to use instead of inet socket. Host and port parameters will not be used, however required. It is ok to set dummy values for them. Must be used with nativeTransport=true and clientMode=false.

String

workerCount (advanced)

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default workerCount parameter from Netty (which is cpu_core_threads x 2). User can use this option to override the default workerCount from Netty.

int

workerGroup (advanced)

To use a explicit EventLoopGroup as the boss thread pool. For example to share a thread pool with multiple consumers or producers. By default each consumer or producer has their own worker pool with 2 x cpu count core threads.

EventLoopGroup

allowDefaultCodec (codec)

The netty component installs a default codec if both, encoder/decoder is null and textline is false. Setting allowDefaultCodec to false prevents the netty component from installing a default codec as the first element in the filter chain.

true

boolean

autoAppendDelimiter (codec)

Whether or not to auto append missing end delimiter when sending using the textline codec.

true

boolean

decoderMaxLineLength (codec)

The max line length to use for the textline codec.

1024

int

decoders (codec)

A list of decoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

delimiter (codec)

The delimiter to use for the textline codec. Possible values are LINE and NULL.

Enum values:

  • LINE

  • NULL

LINE

TextLineDelimiter

encoders (codec)

A list of encoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

encoding (codec)

The encoding (a charset name) to use for the textline codec. If not provided, Camel will use the JVM default Charset.

String

textline (codec)

Only used for TCP. If no codec is specified, you can use this flag to indicate a text line based codec; if not specified or the value is false, then Object Serialization is assumed over TCP - however only Strings are allowed to be serialized by default.

false

boolean

enabledProtocols (security)

Which protocols to enable when using SSL.

TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3

String

hostnameVerification (security)

To enable/disable hostname verification on SSLEngine.

false

boolean

keyStoreFile (security)

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

keyStoreFormat (security)

Keystore format to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to JKS if not set.

String

keyStoreResource (security)

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

needClientAuth (security)

Configures whether the server needs client authentication when using SSL.

false

boolean

passphrase (security)

Password setting to use in order to encrypt/decrypt payloads sent using SSH.

String

securityProvider (security)

Security provider to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to SunX509 if not set.

String

ssl (security)

Setting to specify whether SSL encryption is applied to this endpoint.

false

boolean

sslClientCertHeaders (security)

When enabled and in SSL mode, then the Netty consumer will enrich the Camel Message with headers having information about the client certificate such as subject name, issuer name, serial number, and the valid date range.

false

boolean

sslContextParameters (security)

To configure security using SSLContextParameters.

SSLContextParameters

sslHandler (security)

Reference to a class that could be used to return an SSL Handler.

SslHandler

trustStoreFile (security)

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

trustStoreResource (security)

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

Message Headers

The Netty component supports 11 message header(s), which is/are listed below:

Name Description Default Type

CamelNettyCloseChannelWhenComplete (common)

Constant: NETTY_CLOSE_CHANNEL_WHEN_COMPLETE

Indicates whether the channel should be closed after complete.

Boolean

CamelNettyChannelHandlerContext (common)

Constant: NETTY_CHANNEL_HANDLER_CONTEXT

The channel handler context.

ChannelHandlerContext

CamelNettyRemoteAddress (common)

Constant: NETTY_REMOTE_ADDRESS

The remote address.

SocketAddress

CamelNettyLocalAddress (common)

Constant: NETTY_LOCAL_ADDRESS

The local address.

SocketAddress

CamelNettySSLSession (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_SESSION

The SSL session.

SSLSession

CamelNettySSLClientCertSubjectName (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_SUBJECT_NAME

The SSL client certificate subject name.

String

CamelNettySSLClientCertIssuerName (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_ISSUER_NAME

The SSL client certificate issuer name.

String

CamelNettySSLClientCertSerialNumber (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_SERIAL_NO

The SSL client certificate serial number.

String

CamelNettySSLClientCertNotBefore (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_NOT_BEFORE

The SSL client certificate not before.

Date

CamelNettySSLClientCertNotAfter (common)

Constant: NETTY_SSL_CLIENT_CERT_NOT_AFTER

The SSL client certificate not after.

Date

CamelNettyRequestTimeout (common)

Constant: NETTY_REQUEST_TIMEOUT

The read timeout.

Long

Usage

Registry-based Options

Codec Handlers and SSL Keystores can be enlisted in the Registry, such as in the Spring XML file. The values that could be passed in are the following:

Name Description

passphrase

password setting to use to encrypt/decrypt payloads sent using SSH

keyStoreFormat

keystore format to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to JKS if not set

securityProvider

Security provider to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to SunX509 if not set.

keyStoreFile

deprecated: Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption

trustStoreFile

deprecated: Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption

keyStoreResource

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. It is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with "classpath:", "file:", or "http:" to load the resource from different systems.

trustStoreResource

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. It is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with "classpath:", "file:", or "http:" to load the resource from different systems.

sslHandler

Reference to a class that could be used to return an SSL Handler

encoder

A custom ChannelHandler class that can be used to perform special marshalling of outbound payloads. Must override io.netty.channel.ChannelInboundHandlerAdapter.

encoders

A list of encoders to be used. You can use a string that has values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should look up.

decoder

A custom ChannelHandler class that can be used to perform special marshalling of inbound payloads. Must override io.netty.channel.ChannelOutboundHandlerAdapter.

decoders

A list of decoders to be used. You can use a string that has values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should look up.

Read below about using non-shareable encoders/decoders.

Using non-shareable encoders or decoders

If your encoders or decoders are not shareable (e.g., they don’t have the @Shareable class annotation), then your encoder/decoder must implement the org.apache.camel.component.netty.ChannelHandlerFactory interface, and return a new instance in the newChannelHandler method. This is to ensure the encoder/decoder can safely be used. If this is not the case, then the Netty component will log a WARN when an endpoint is created.

The Netty component offers a org.apache.camel.component.netty.ChannelHandlerFactories factory class, that has a number of commonly used methods.

Sending Messages to/from a Netty endpoint

Netty Producer

In Producer mode, the component provides the ability to send payloads to a socket endpoint using either TCP or UDP protocols (with optional SSL support).

The producer mode supports both one-way and request-response based operations.

Netty Consumer

In Consumer mode, the component provides the ability to:

  • listen to a specified socket using either TCP or UDP protocols (with optional SSL support),

  • receive requests on the socket using text/xml, binary and serialized object-based payloads and

  • send them along on a route as message exchanges.

The consumer mode supports both one-way and request-response based operations.

Using Multiple Codecs

In certain cases, it may be necessary to add chains of encoders and decoders to the netty pipeline. To add multiple codecs to a Camel netty endpoint, the encoders and decoders uri parameters should be used. Like the encoder and decoder parameters they are used to supply references (lists of ChannelUpstreamHandlers and ChannelDownstreamHandlers) that should be added to the pipeline.

Note that if encoders are specified, then the encoder param will be ignored, similarly for decoders and the decoder param.

Read further about using non-shareable encoders/decoders.

The lists of codecs need to be added to the Camel’s registry, so they can be resolved when the endpoint is created.

ChannelHandlerFactory lengthDecoder = ChannelHandlerFactories.newLengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder(1048576, 0, 4, 0, 4);

StringDecoder stringDecoder = new StringDecoder();
registry.bind("length-decoder", lengthDecoder);
registry.bind("string-decoder", stringDecoder);

LengthFieldPrepender lengthEncoder = new LengthFieldPrepender(4);
StringEncoder stringEncoder = new StringEncoder();
registry.bind("length-encoder", lengthEncoder);
registry.bind("string-encoder", stringEncoder);

List<ChannelHandler> decoders = new ArrayList<ChannelHandler>();
decoders.add(lengthDecoder);
decoders.add(stringDecoder);

List<ChannelHandler> encoders = new ArrayList<ChannelHandler>();
encoders.add(lengthEncoder);
encoders.add(stringEncoder);

registry.bind("encoders", encoders);
registry.bind("decoders", decoders);

Spring’s native collections support can be used to specify the codec lists in an application context

<util:list id="decoders" list-class="java.util.LinkedList">
        <bean class="org.apache.camel.component.netty.ChannelHandlerFactories" factory-method="newLengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder">
            <constructor-arg value="1048576"/>
            <constructor-arg value="0"/>
            <constructor-arg value="4"/>
            <constructor-arg value="0"/>
            <constructor-arg value="4"/>
        </bean>
        <bean class="io.netty.handler.codec.string.StringDecoder"/>
    </util:list>

    <util:list id="encoders" list-class="java.util.LinkedList">
        <bean class="io.netty.handler.codec.LengthFieldPrepender">
            <constructor-arg value="4"/>
        </bean>
        <bean class="io.netty.handler.codec.string.StringEncoder"/>
    </util:list>

    <bean id="length-encoder" class="io.netty.handler.codec.LengthFieldPrepender">
        <constructor-arg value="4"/>
    </bean>
    <bean id="string-encoder" class="io.netty.handler.codec.string.StringEncoder"/>

    <bean id="length-decoder" class="org.apache.camel.component.netty.ChannelHandlerFactories" factory-method="newLengthFieldBasedFrameDecoder">
        <constructor-arg value="1048576"/>
        <constructor-arg value="0"/>
        <constructor-arg value="4"/>
        <constructor-arg value="0"/>
        <constructor-arg value="4"/>
    </bean>
    <bean id="string-decoder" class="io.netty.handler.codec.string.StringDecoder"/>

The bean names can then be used in netty endpoint definitions either as a comma-separated list or contained in a list, e.g.:

  • Java

  • XML

 from("direct:multiple-codec").to("netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:{{port}}?encoders=#encoders&sync=false");

 from("netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:{{port}}?decoders=#length-decoder,#string-decoder&sync=false").to("mock:multiple-codec");
<camelContext id="multiple-netty-codecs-context" xmlns="http://camel.apache.org/schema/spring">
    <route>
        <from uri="direct:multiple-codec"/>
        <to uri="netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150?encoders=#encoders&amp;sync=false"/>
    </route>
    <route>
        <from uri="netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150?decoders=#length-decoder,#string-decoder&amp;sync=false"/>
        <to uri="mock:multiple-codec"/>
    </route>
</camelContext>

Closing Channel When Complete

When acting as a server, you sometimes want to close the channel when, for example, a client conversion is finished. You can do this by simply setting the endpoint option disconnect=true.

However, you can also instruct Camel on a per-message basis as follows. To instruct Camel to close the channel, you should add a header with the key CamelNettyCloseChannelWhenComplete set to a boolean true value. For instance, the example below will close the channel after it has written the bye message back to the client:

from("netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:8080").process(new Processor() {
    public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
        String body = exchange.getIn().getBody(String.class);
        exchange.getOut().setBody("Bye " + body);
        // some condition that determines if we should close
        if (close) {
            exchange.getOut().setHeader(NettyConstants.NETTY_CLOSE_CHANNEL_WHEN_COMPLETE, true);
        }
    }
});

Adding custom channel pipeline factories to gain complete control over a created pipeline

Custom pipeline

Custom channel pipelines provide complete control to the user over the handler/interceptor chain by inserting custom handler(s), encoder(s) & decoder(s) without having to specify them in the Netty Endpoint URL in a straightforward way.

To add a custom pipeline, a custom channel pipeline factory must be created and registered with the context via the context registry (or the camel-spring ApplicationContextRegistry, etc).

A custom pipeline factory must be constructed as follows

  • A Producer-linked channel pipeline factory must extend the abstract class ClientInitializerFactory.

  • A Consumer-linked channel pipeline factory must extend the abstract class ServerInitializerFactory.

  • The classes should override the initChannel() method to insert custom handler(s), encoder(s) and decoder(s). Not overriding the initChannel() method creates a pipeline with no handlers, encoders or decoders wired to the pipeline.

The example below shows how ServerInitializerFactory factory may be created

Using custom pipeline factory

public class SampleServerInitializerFactory extends ServerInitializerFactory {
    private int maxLineSize = 1024;

    protected void initChannel(Channel ch) throws Exception {
        ChannelPipeline channelPipeline = ch.pipeline();

        channelPipeline.addLast("encoder-SD", new StringEncoder(CharsetUtil.UTF_8));
        channelPipeline.addLast("decoder-DELIM", new DelimiterBasedFrameDecoder(maxLineSize, true, Delimiters.lineDelimiter()));
        channelPipeline.addLast("decoder-SD", new StringDecoder(CharsetUtil.UTF_8));
        // here we add the default Camel ServerChannelHandler for the consumer, to allow Camel to route the message, etc.
        channelPipeline.addLast("handler", new ServerChannelHandler(consumer));
    }
}

The custom channel pipeline factory can then be added to the registry and instantiated/utilized on a Camel route in the following way

Registry registry = camelContext.getRegistry();
ServerInitializerFactory factory = new TestServerInitializerFactory();
registry.bind("spf", factory);
context.addRoutes(new RouteBuilder() {
  public void configure() {
      String netty_ssl_endpoint =
         "netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150?serverInitializerFactory=#spf"
      String return_string =
         "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,"
         + "For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.";

      from(netty_ssl_endpoint)
       .process(new Processor() {
          public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
            exchange.getOut().setBody(return_string);
          }
       }
  }
});

Reusing Netty boss and worker thread pools

Netty has two kinds of thread pools: boss and worker. By default, each Netty consumer and producer has their private thread pools. If you want to reuse these thread pools among multiple consumers or producers, then the thread pools must be created and enlisted in the Registry.

For example, using Spring XML we can create a shared worker thread pool using the NettyWorkerPoolBuilder with two worker threads as shown below:

<!-- use the worker pool builder to help create the shared thread pool -->
<bean id="poolBuilder" class="org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyWorkerPoolBuilder">
  <property name="workerCount" value="2"/>
</bean>

<!-- the shared worker thread pool -->
<bean id="sharedPool" class="org.jboss.netty.channel.socket.nio.WorkerPool"
      factory-bean="poolBuilder" factory-method="build" destroy-method="shutdown">
</bean>

For boss thread pool there is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyServerBossPoolBuilder builder for Netty consumers, and a org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyClientBossPoolBuilder for the Netty producers.

Then in the Camel routes we can refer to this worker pools by configuring the workerPool option in the URI as shown below:

<route>
  <from uri="netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5021?textline=true&amp;sync=true&amp;workerPool=#sharedPool&amp;usingExecutorService=false"/>
  <to uri="log:result"/>
  ...
</route>

And if we have another route, we can refer to the shared worker pool:

<route>
  <from uri="netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5022?textline=true&amp;sync=true&amp;workerPool=#sharedPool&amp;usingExecutorService=false"/>
  <to uri="log:result"/>
  ...
</route>

And so forth.

Multiplexing concurrent messages over a single connection with request/reply

When using Netty for request/reply messaging via the netty producer, then by default, each message is sent via a non-shared connection (pooled). This ensures that replies are automatic being able to map to the correct request thread for further routing in Camel. In other words, correlation between request/reply messages happens out-of-the-box because the replies come back on the same connection that was used for sending the request; and this connection is not shared with others. When the response comes back, the connection is returned to the connection pool, where it can be reused by others.

However, if you want to multiplex concurrent request/responses on a single shared connection, then you need to turn off the connection pooling by setting producerPoolEnabled=false. Now this means there is a potential issue with interleaved responses if replies come back out-of-order. Therefore, you need to have a correlation id in both the request and reply messages, so you can properly correlate the replies to the Camel callback that is responsible for continue processing the message in Camel. To do this, you need to implement NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager as correlation manager and configure it via the correlationManager=#myManager option.

We recommend extending the TimeoutCorrelationManagerSupport when you build custom correlation managers. This provides support for timeout and other complexities you otherwise would need to implement as well.

You can find an example with the Apache Camel source code in the examples directory under the camel-example-netty-custom-correlation directory.

Native transport

To enable native transport, you need to add additional dependency for epoll or kqueue depending on your OS and CPU arch. To make it easier add the following extension to your build section of pom.xml:

<extensions>
    <extension>
        <groupId>kr.motd.maven</groupId>
        <artifactId>os-maven-plugin</artifactId>
    </extension>
</extensions>

So then you need to add the following dependency:

  • Linux/Unix

  • MacOS/BSD

<dependency>
    <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
    <artifactId>netty-transport-native-epoll</artifactId>
    <classifier>${os.detected.classifier}</classifier>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>io.netty</groupId>
    <artifactId>netty-transport-native-kqueue</artifactId>
    <classifier>${os.detected.classifier}</classifier>
</dependency>

Examples

A UDP Netty endpoint using Request-Reply and serialized object payload

Note that Object serialization is not allowed by default, and so a decoder must be configured.

@BindToRegistry("decoder")
public ChannelHandler getDecoder() throws Exception {
    return new DefaultChannelHandlerFactory() {
        @Override
        public ChannelHandler newChannelHandler() {
            return new DatagramPacketObjectDecoder(ClassResolvers.weakCachingResolver(null));
        }
    };
}

RouteBuilder builder = new RouteBuilder() {
  public void configure() {
    from("netty:udp://0.0.0.0:5155?sync=true&decoders=#decoder")
      .process(new Processor() {
         public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
           Poetry poetry = (Poetry) exchange.getIn().getBody();
           // Process poetry in some way
           exchange.getOut().setBody("Message received);
         }
       }
    }
};

A TCP-based Netty consumer endpoint using One-way communication

RouteBuilder builder = new RouteBuilder() {
  public void configure() {
       from("netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150")
           .to("mock:result");
  }
};

An SSL/TCP-based Netty consumer endpoint using Request-Reply communication

Using the JSSE Configuration Utility

The Netty component supports SSL/TLS configuration through the Camel JSSE Configuration Utility. This utility greatly decreases the amount of component-specific code you need to write and is configurable at the endpoint and component levels. The following examples demonstrate how to use the utility with the Netty component.

Programmatic configuration of the component

KeyStoreParameters ksp = new KeyStoreParameters();
ksp.setResource("/users/home/server/keystore.jks");
ksp.setPassword("keystorePassword");

KeyManagersParameters kmp = new KeyManagersParameters();
kmp.setKeyStore(ksp);
kmp.setKeyPassword("keyPassword");

SSLContextParameters scp = new SSLContextParameters();
scp.setKeyManagers(kmp);

NettyComponent nettyComponent = getContext().getComponent("netty", NettyComponent.class);
nettyComponent.getConfiguration().setSslContextParameters(scp);

Spring DSL based configuration of endpoint

...
  <camel:sslContextParameters
      id="sslContextParameters">
    <camel:keyManagers
        keyPassword="keyPassword">
      <camel:keyStore
          resource="/users/home/server/keystore.jks"
          password="keystorePassword"/>
    </camel:keyManagers>
  </camel:sslContextParameters>...
...
  <to uri="netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150?sync=true&ssl=true&sslContextParameters=#sslContextParameters"/>
...

Using Basic SSL/TLS configuration on the Jetty Component

Registry registry = context.getRegistry();
registry.bind("password", "changeit");
registry.bind("ksf", new File("src/test/resources/keystore.jks"));
registry.bind("tsf", new File("src/test/resources/keystore.jks"));

context.addRoutes(new RouteBuilder() {
  public void configure() {
      String netty_ssl_endpoint =
         "netty:tcp://0.0.0.0:5150?sync=true&ssl=true&passphrase=#password"
         + "&keyStoreFile=#ksf&trustStoreFile=#tsf";
      String return_string =
         "When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,"
         + "For Your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.";

      from(netty_ssl_endpoint)
       .process(new Processor() {
          public void process(Exchange exchange) throws Exception {
            exchange.getOut().setBody(return_string);
          }
       }
  }
});

Getting access to SSLSession and the client certificate

You can get access to the javax.net.ssl.SSLSession if you e.g., need to get details about the client certificate. When ssl=true then the Netty component will store the SSLSession as a header on the Camel Message as shown below:

SSLSession session = exchange.getIn().getHeader(NettyConstants.NETTY_SSL_SESSION, SSLSession.class);
// get the first certificate which is client certificate
javax.security.cert.X509Certificate cert = session.getPeerCertificateChain()[0];
Principal principal = cert.getSubjectDN();

Remember to set needClientAuth=true to authenticate the client, otherwise SSLSession cannot access information about the client certificate, and you may get an exception javax.net.ssl.SSLPeerUnverifiedException: peer not authenticated. You may also get this exception if the client certificate is expired or not valid, etc.

The option sslClientCertHeaders can be set to true which then enriches the Camel Message with headers having details about the client certificate. For example, the subject name is readily available in the header CamelNettySSLClientCertSubjectName.

Spring Boot Auto-Configuration

When using netty with Spring Boot make sure to use the following Maven dependency to have support for auto configuration:

<dependency>
  <groupId>org.apache.camel.springboot</groupId>
  <artifactId>camel-netty-starter</artifactId>
  <version>x.x.x</version>
  <!-- use the same version as your Camel core version -->
</dependency>

The component supports 77 options, which are listed below.

Name Description Default Type

camel.component.netty.allow-default-codec

The netty component installs a default codec if both, encoder/decoder is null and textline is false. Setting allowDefaultCodec to false prevents the netty component from installing a default codec as the first element in the filter chain.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.allow-serialized-headers

Only used for TCP when transferExchange is true. When set to true, serializable objects in headers and properties will be added to the exchange. Otherwise Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.auto-append-delimiter

Whether or not to auto append missing end delimiter when sending using the textline codec.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.autowired-enabled

Whether autowiring is enabled. This is used for automatic autowiring options (the option must be marked as autowired) by looking up in the registry to find if there is a single instance of matching type, which then gets configured on the component. This can be used for automatic configuring JDBC data sources, JMS connection factories, AWS Clients, etc.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.backlog

Allows to configure a backlog for netty consumer (server). Note the backlog is just a best effort depending on the OS. Setting this option to a value such as 200, 500 or 1000, tells the TCP stack how long the accept queue can be If this option is not configured, then the backlog depends on OS setting.

Integer

camel.component.netty.boss-count

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default bossCount parameter from Netty, which is 1. User can use this option to override the default bossCount from Netty.

1

Integer

camel.component.netty.boss-group

Set the BossGroup which could be used for handling the new connection of the server side across the NettyEndpoint. The option is a io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup type.

EventLoopGroup

camel.component.netty.bridge-error-handler

Allows for bridging the consumer to the Camel routing Error Handler, which mean any exceptions (if possible) occurred while the Camel consumer is trying to pickup incoming messages, or the likes, will now be processed as a message and handled by the routing Error Handler. Important: This is only possible if the 3rd party component allows Camel to be alerted if an exception was thrown. Some components handle this internally only, and therefore bridgeErrorHandler is not possible. In other situations we may improve the Camel component to hook into the 3rd party component and make this possible for future releases. By default the consumer will use the org.apache.camel.spi.ExceptionHandler to deal with exceptions, that will be logged at WARN or ERROR level and ignored.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.broadcast

Setting to choose Multicast over UDP.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.channel-group

To use a explicit ChannelGroup. The option is a io.netty.channel.group.ChannelGroup type.

ChannelGroup

camel.component.netty.client-initializer-factory

To use a custom ClientInitializerFactory. The option is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.ClientInitializerFactory type.

ClientInitializerFactory

camel.component.netty.client-mode

If the clientMode is true, netty consumer will connect the address as a TCP client.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.configuration

To use the NettyConfiguration as configuration when creating endpoints. The option is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyConfiguration type.

NettyConfiguration

camel.component.netty.connect-timeout

Time to wait for a socket connection to be available. Value is in milliseconds.

10000

Integer

camel.component.netty.correlation-manager

To use a custom correlation manager to manage how request and reply messages are mapped when using request/reply with the netty producer. This should only be used if you have a way to map requests together with replies such as if there is correlation ids in both the request and reply messages. This can be used if you want to multiplex concurrent messages on the same channel (aka connection) in netty. When doing this you must have a way to correlate the request and reply messages so you can store the right reply on the inflight Camel Exchange before its continued routed. We recommend extending the TimeoutCorrelationManagerSupport when you build custom correlation managers. This provides support for timeout and other complexities you otherwise would need to implement as well. See also the producerPoolEnabled option for more details. The option is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager type.

NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager

camel.component.netty.decoder-max-line-length

The max line length to use for the textline codec.

1024

Integer

camel.component.netty.decoders

A list of decoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

camel.component.netty.delimiter

The delimiter to use for the textline codec. Possible values are LINE and NULL.

line

TextLineDelimiter

camel.component.netty.disconnect

Whether or not to disconnect(close) from Netty Channel right after use. Can be used for both consumer and producer.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.disconnect-on-no-reply

If sync is enabled then this option dictates NettyConsumer if it should disconnect where there is no reply to send back.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.enabled

Whether to enable auto configuration of the netty component. This is enabled by default.

Boolean

camel.component.netty.enabled-protocols

Which protocols to enable when using SSL.

TLSv1.2,TLSv1.3

String

camel.component.netty.encoders

A list of encoders to be used. You can use a String which have values separated by comma, and have the values be looked up in the Registry. Just remember to prefix the value with # so Camel knows it should lookup.

String

camel.component.netty.encoding

The encoding (a charset name) to use for the textline codec. If not provided, Camel will use the JVM default Charset.

String

camel.component.netty.executor-service

To use the given EventExecutorGroup. The option is a io.netty.util.concurrent.EventExecutorGroup type.

EventExecutorGroup

camel.component.netty.hostname-verification

To enable/disable hostname verification on SSLEngine.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.keep-alive

Setting to ensure socket is not closed due to inactivity.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.key-store-file

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

camel.component.netty.key-store-format

Keystore format to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to JKS if not set.

String

camel.component.netty.key-store-resource

Client side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

camel.component.netty.lazy-channel-creation

Channels can be lazily created to avoid exceptions, if the remote server is not up and running when the Camel producer is started.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.lazy-start-producer

Whether the producer should be started lazy (on the first message). By starting lazy you can use this to allow CamelContext and routes to startup in situations where a producer may otherwise fail during starting and cause the route to fail being started. By deferring this startup to be lazy then the startup failure can be handled during routing messages via Camel’s routing error handlers. Beware that when the first message is processed then creating and starting the producer may take a little time and prolong the total processing time of the processing.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.maximum-pool-size

Sets a maximum thread pool size for the netty consumer ordered thread pool. The default size is 2 x cpu_core plus 1. Setting this value to eg 10 will then use 10 threads unless 2 x cpu_core plus 1 is a higher value, which then will override and be used. For example if there are 8 cores, then the consumer thread pool will be 17. This thread pool is used to route messages received from Netty by Camel. We use a separate thread pool to ensure ordering of messages and also in case some messages will block, then nettys worker threads (event loop) wont be affected.

Integer

camel.component.netty.native-transport

Whether to use native transport instead of NIO. Native transport takes advantage of the host operating system and is only supported on some platforms. You need to add the netty JAR for the host operating system you are using. See more details at: http://netty.io/wiki/native-transports.html.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.need-client-auth

Configures whether the server needs client authentication when using SSL.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.netty-server-bootstrap-factory

To use a custom NettyServerBootstrapFactory. The option is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.NettyServerBootstrapFactory type.

NettyServerBootstrapFactory

camel.component.netty.network-interface

When using UDP then this option can be used to specify a network interface by its name, such as eth0 to join a multicast group.

String

camel.component.netty.no-reply-log-level

If sync is enabled this option dictates NettyConsumer which logging level to use when logging a there is no reply to send back.

warn

LoggingLevel

camel.component.netty.options

Allows to configure additional netty options using option. as prefix. For example option.child.keepAlive=false to set the netty option child.keepAlive=false. See the Netty documentation for possible options that can be used.

Map

camel.component.netty.passphrase

Password setting to use in order to encrypt/decrypt payloads sent using SSH.

String

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-block-when-exhausted

Sets the value for the blockWhenExhausted configuration attribute. It determines whether to block when the borrowObject() method is invoked when the pool is exhausted (the maximum number of active objects has been reached).

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-enabled

Whether producer pool is enabled or not. Important: If you turn this off then a single shared connection is used for the producer, also if you are doing request/reply. That means there is a potential issue with interleaved responses if replies comes back out-of-order. Therefore you need to have a correlation id in both the request and reply messages so you can properly correlate the replies to the Camel callback that is responsible for continue processing the message in Camel. To do this you need to implement NettyCamelStateCorrelationManager as correlation manager and configure it via the correlationManager option. See also the correlationManager option for more details.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-max-idle

Sets the cap on the number of idle instances in the pool.

100

Integer

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-max-total

Sets the cap on the number of objects that can be allocated by the pool (checked out to clients, or idle awaiting checkout) at a given time. Use a negative value for no limit. Be careful to not set this value too low (such as 1) as the pool must have space to create a producer such as when performing retries. Be mindful that the option producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is default true, and the pool will then block when there is no space, which can lead to the application to hang.

-1

Integer

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-max-wait

Sets the maximum duration (value in millis) the borrowObject() method should block before throwing an exception when the pool is exhausted and producerPoolBlockWhenExhausted is true. When less than 0, the borrowObject() method may block indefinitely.

-1

Long

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-min-evictable-idle

Sets the minimum amount of time (value in millis) an object may sit idle in the pool before it is eligible for eviction by the idle object evictor.

300000

Long

camel.component.netty.producer-pool-min-idle

Sets the minimum number of instances allowed in the producer pool before the evictor thread (if active) spawns new objects.

Integer

camel.component.netty.receive-buffer-size

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during inbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

Integer

camel.component.netty.receive-buffer-size-predictor

Configures the buffer size predictor. See details at Jetty documentation and this mail thread.

Integer

camel.component.netty.reconnect

Used only in clientMode in consumer, the consumer will attempt to reconnect on disconnection if this is enabled.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.reconnect-interval

Used if reconnect and clientMode is enabled. The interval in milli seconds to attempt reconnection.

10000

Integer

camel.component.netty.request-timeout

Allows to use a timeout for the Netty producer when calling a remote server. By default no timeout is in use. The value is in milli seconds, so eg 30000 is 30 seconds. The requestTimeout is using Netty’s ReadTimeoutHandler to trigger the timeout.

Long

camel.component.netty.reuse-address

Setting to facilitate socket multiplexing.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.reuse-channel

This option allows producers and consumers (in client mode) to reuse the same Netty Channel for the lifecycle of processing the Exchange. This is useful if you need to call a server multiple times in a Camel route and want to use the same network connection. When using this, the channel is not returned to the connection pool until the Exchange is done; or disconnected if the disconnect option is set to true. The reused Channel is stored on the Exchange as an exchange property with the key NettyConstants#NETTY_CHANNEL which allows you to obtain the channel during routing and use it as well.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.security-provider

Security provider to be used for payload encryption. Defaults to SunX509 if not set.

String

camel.component.netty.send-buffer-size

The TCP/UDP buffer sizes to be used during outbound communication. Size is bytes.

65536

Integer

camel.component.netty.server-closed-channel-exception-caught-log-level

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException then its logged using this logging level. This is used to avoid logging the closed channel exceptions, as clients can disconnect abruptly and then cause a flood of closed exceptions in the Netty server.

debug

LoggingLevel

camel.component.netty.server-exception-caught-log-level

If the server (NettyConsumer) catches an exception then its logged using this logging level.

warn

LoggingLevel

camel.component.netty.server-initializer-factory

To use a custom ServerInitializerFactory. The option is a org.apache.camel.component.netty.ServerInitializerFactory type.

ServerInitializerFactory

camel.component.netty.ssl

Setting to specify whether SSL encryption is applied to this endpoint.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.ssl-client-cert-headers

When enabled and in SSL mode, then the Netty consumer will enrich the Camel Message with headers having information about the client certificate such as subject name, issuer name, serial number, and the valid date range.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.ssl-context-parameters

To configure security using SSLContextParameters. The option is a org.apache.camel.support.jsse.SSLContextParameters type.

SSLContextParameters

camel.component.netty.ssl-handler

Reference to a class that could be used to return an SSL Handler. The option is a io.netty.handler.ssl.SslHandler type.

SslHandler

camel.component.netty.sync

Setting to set endpoint as one-way or request-response.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.tcp-no-delay

Setting to improve TCP protocol performance.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.textline

Only used for TCP. If no codec is specified, you can use this flag to indicate a text line based codec; if not specified or the value is false, then Object Serialization is assumed over TCP - however only Strings are allowed to be serialized by default.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.transfer-exchange

Only used for TCP. You can transfer the exchange over the wire instead of just the body. The following fields are transferred: In body, Out body, fault body, In headers, Out headers, fault headers, exchange properties, exchange exception. This requires that the objects are serializable. Camel will exclude any non-serializable objects and log it at WARN level.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.trust-store-file

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption.

File

camel.component.netty.trust-store-resource

Server side certificate keystore to be used for encryption. Is loaded by default from classpath, but you can prefix with classpath:, file:, or http: to load the resource from different systems.

String

camel.component.netty.udp-byte-array-codec

For UDP only. If enabled the using byte array codec instead of Java serialization protocol.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.udp-connectionless-sending

This option supports connection less udp sending which is a real fire and forget. A connected udp send receive the PortUnreachableException if no one is listen on the receiving port.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.unix-domain-socket-path

Path to unix domain socket to use instead of inet socket. Host and port parameters will not be used, however required. It is ok to set dummy values for them. Must be used with nativeTransport=true and clientMode=false.

String

camel.component.netty.use-byte-buf

If the useByteBuf is true, netty producer will turn the message body into ByteBuf before sending it out.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.use-global-ssl-context-parameters

Enable usage of global SSL context parameters.

false

Boolean

camel.component.netty.using-executor-service

Whether to use ordered thread pool, to ensure events are processed orderly on the same channel.

true

Boolean

camel.component.netty.worker-count

When netty works on nio mode, it uses default workerCount parameter from Netty (which is cpu_core_threads x 2). User can use this option to override the default workerCount from Netty.

Integer

camel.component.netty.worker-group

To use a explicit EventLoopGroup as the boss thread pool. For example to share a thread pool with multiple consumers or producers. By default each consumer or producer has their own worker pool with 2 x cpu count core threads. The option is a io.netty.channel.EventLoopGroup type.

EventLoopGroup