You are tasked with securing a large-scale Spring Boot application with various microservices. How would you design the security architecture to ensure that the services are securely accessible and user authentication and authorization are handled efficiently?

  • Implementing security separately for each microservice
  • Using OAuth2 with JWT tokens for authentication and authorization
  • Storing user credentials in plaintext in a centralized database
  • Using HTTP Basic Authentication for all services
To secure a large-scale Spring Boot application with microservices efficiently, it's advisable to use OAuth2 with JWT tokens. This approach provides centralized authentication and authorization while allowing secure access to services. The other options have security and efficiency drawbacks, such as storing credentials in plaintext or using HTTP Basic Authentication, which are not recommended for production scenarios.

How can you handle different HTTP methods in a single method in a Spring Boot controller?

  • Create separate controller classes for each HTTP method.
  • Use multiple methods with different names for each HTTP method.
  • Use the @RequestMapping annotation with the method parameter.
  • Use the @RequestMethod annotation with the method parameter.
To handle different HTTP methods in a single method of a Spring Boot controller, you can use the @RequestMapping annotation with the method parameter. This allows you to specify which HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, etc.) should be mapped to that method. Inside the method, you can use conditional logic to perform different actions based on the incoming HTTP method.

In a Spring Data JPA repository, which annotation is used to annotate a custom query when the derived query mechanism is not sufficient?

  • @Query
  • @CustomQuery
  • @CustomMethod
  • @CustomRepo
In Spring Data JPA, when the derived query mechanism is not sufficient, you can annotate a custom query method with the @Query annotation. This annotation allows you to define custom queries using JPQL or native SQL. There's no @CustomQuery annotation in Spring Data JPA, and the other options mentioned are not standard annotations for this purpose.

In OAuth2, the _____ grant type is used by clients to exchange user credentials for an access token.

  • Authorization Code
  • Client Credentials
  • Implicit
  • Resource Owner Password Credentials
In OAuth2, the "Resource Owner Password Credentials" grant type is used by clients to exchange user credentials (username and password) directly for an access token. This grant type is typically used when the client and authorization server trust each other, and it's not suitable for public clients.

How can you exclude certain auto-configuration classes in Spring Boot to prevent them from being applied?

  • By using the @ExcludeAutoConfiguration annotation.
  • By removing the auto-configuration JAR files from the classpath.
  • By specifying exclusions in the application.properties file.
  • By annotating a class with @EnableAutoConfiguration(exclude = ...)
In Spring Boot, you can exclude certain auto-configuration classes by specifying their names in the spring.autoconfigure.exclude property in the application.properties file. This prevents those specific auto-configurations from being applied. The other options either do not exist in Spring Boot or do not serve the same purpose of excluding auto-configurations.

What is the primary file used to define properties in Spring Boot?

  • application.properties
  • application.yml
  • bootstrap.properties
  • config.properties
In Spring Boot, the application.properties file is the primary file used to define properties. This file allows you to configure various aspects of the application, such as server port, database connections, etc. The application.properties file is typically located in the src/main/resources directory, and its properties are loaded at runtime by Spring Boot. The properties defined in this file can also be overridden by external configurations.

In a Spring Boot application, how can you specify that a method parameter should be bound to a web request parameter?

  • Using the @RequestParam annotation with the parameter name.
  • By using the @PathVariable annotation with the parameter name.
  • Declaring it as a regular method parameter without any annotations.
  • Using the @ResponseBody annotation with the parameter name.
In a Spring Boot application, you can specify that a method parameter should be bound to a web request parameter by using the @RequestParam annotation followed by the parameter name. This annotation allows you to map a request parameter to a method parameter, providing access to values sent in the HTTP request. The other options are not typically used for binding request parameters.

You need to develop a Spring Boot application where the requirement is to have different request mappings based on the user's role. How would you design the request mappings and controller methods to fulfill this requirement?

  • Use a single controller with complex conditional logic to handle all role-based request mappings.
  • Create separate controllers for each user role, each with its own set of request mappings and controller methods.
  • Embed role information in the request URL and use a single controller to handle all requests, parsing the role from the URL.
  • Use the same request mappings for all user roles and implement role-specific logic within each controller method.
When dealing with role-based request mappings in a Spring Boot application, the best practice is to create separate controllers for each user role, each with its own set of request mappings and controller methods. This approach keeps the codebase clean, organized, and maintainable. Option 2 is the recommended approach, as it follows the principle of separation of concerns. The other options may lead to complex and hard-to-maintain code.

In Spring Security, which interface is primarily used for authentication and authorization?

  • AuthenticationProvider
  • PasswordEncoder
  • RoleProvider
  • UserDetails
In Spring Security, the primary interface used for authentication and authorization is the AuthenticationProvider. It's responsible for authenticating users based on provided credentials and creating an Authentication object that represents the authenticated user. While UserDetails is important for user details, PasswordEncoder handles password encoding, and RoleProvider is not a standard Spring Security interface.

What is the significance of the @Transactional annotation in Spring Data JPA?

  • It defines the transaction boundaries for the annotated method.
  • It specifies the fetch strategy for the associated entity.
  • It configures the database connection pool.
  • It enables caching for query results.
The @Transactional annotation in Spring Data JPA is used to define transaction boundaries for the annotated method. It ensures that the method is executed within a transaction, and any changes made to the database are either committed or rolled back as a single unit of work. The other options do not accurately describe the purpose of @Transactional in Spring Data JPA.