In the previous chapter, we created a web application with Spring MVC. Creating a new application with Spring framework involves a number of steps. You need to decide on the frameworks to use, and then you need to configure the frameworks and integrate them. Before you build your first use case, you need to set up a number of technical features—exception handling, application configuration, and so on.

But how about having all these for free when we create a new application?

Spring Boot aims to solve the problem of starting off quickly with a new application. In this chapter, we will understand the capabilities Spring Boot brings to the table. We will answer the following questions:

• Why Spring Boot?
• What are the features that Spring Boot provides?
• What is auto configuration?
• What is Spring Boot not?
• What happens in the background when you use Spring Boot?
• How do you use SPRING INITIALIZR to create new Spring Boot projects?
• How do you monitor applications using Spring Boot?
• What is the Spring Boot Actuator?
• How can you become productive with Spring Boot?