Building microservices with Spring Boot in NetBeans IDE

Modern software teams across Australia, from fintechs in Sydney to logistics platforms in Melbourne, are increasingly adopting microservices architectures to handle growing workloads. Spring Boot has become the de facto framework for Java-based microservices thanks to built-in support for embedded servers, auto-configuration, and a rich ecosystem of starters. When paired with NetBeans IDE, developers gain a streamlined workflow that includes visual project management, integrated Maven support, and helpful code navigation.

This article walks through building a small microservices application from scratch using Spring Boot in NetBeans. We'll cover environment setup, project organisation with Maven, creating individual services, enabling service discovery, and documenting APIs. Along the way, you'll see how NetBeans features such as the Maven multi-module wizard and JavaDoc tooling reduce the friction typically associated with distributed Java development.

Setting up your NetBeans environment

Before writing any code, make sure you have a current version of NetBeans installed, ideally Apache NetBeans 15 or later, which bundles the necessary plugins for Java SE, Java EE, and Maven. Verify that your local JDK is at least Java 17, since Spring Boot 3.x requires this baseline. On Windows, macOS, or Linux, the installation steps are nearly identical, though developers in regional Australia working over the National Broadband Network may benefit from downloading the offline installer bundle to avoid interruptions.

Open NetBeans and confirm that Maven is detected by selecting Tools → Options → Java → Maven. You'll also want to configure your local repository location to a fast drive, especially if you're juggling several microservices in the same workspace. For teams collaborating across time zones from Perth to Brisbane, keeping the AEST and ACDT offsets in mind helps when scheduling shared builds or deployments.

Required tools and dependencies

Apache NetBeans 15 or newer
JDK 17 from Adoptium or Oracle
Maven 3.8 or later
Docker Desktop for local container testing
Git client for source control

Project structure and Maven configuration

A clean way to organise the codebase is through a Maven multi-module project, where each microservice sits in its own submodule that inherits common configuration from a parent POM. This approach simplifies dependency management and ensures consistent plugin versions across services. NetBeans handles this elegantly through its project wizard, as described in the guide for using-netbeans-to-create-a-maven-multi-module-project.

The parent POM should declare the Spring Boot parent starter, which centralises version management for Spring Framework, Jackson, and embedded Tomcat. Each child module then declares only its specific dependencies, such as spring-boot-starter-web for REST endpoints or spring-boot-starter-data-jpa for persistence. NetBeans displays the module hierarchy in the Projects window, making it easy to build all submodules with a single right-click action.

Creating individual microservices

With the skeleton in place, you can start adding real services. Begin with two simple Spring Boot applications: a customer service and an order service. Both should use the @SpringBootApplication annotation on their main class and expose REST endpoints through @RestController classes. NetBeans provides code templates for these annotations, so typing spr and pressing Tab will scaffold the main class quickly.

For data access, the order service might talk to PostgreSQL, while the customer service could keep state in-memory for simplicity. Configure each service's application.properties file with its own port and database credentials. If your team deploys to AWS, point the configuration at the Asia Pacific (Sydney) region for low-latency access from Australian users. NetBeans' built-in terminal is handy for running docker-compose commands or curling endpoints during local testing.

Service discovery and communication

Microservices rarely work in isolation, so registering them with a discovery server like Netflix Eureka or HashiCorp Consul is essential. You can add a discovery module to your multi-module project and run it alongside the business services. Each service is annotated with @EnableDiscoveryClient, which registers it with the registry on startup.

When one service needs to call another, use Spring's RestTemplate or the newer WebClient for reactive calls. NetBeans offers visual debugging for HTTP requests, allowing you to step through the call chain when something goes wrong. For added resilience, integrate Resilience4j to handle retries and circuit breakers, particularly important for production workloads serving customers across geographically dispersed areas such as the Gold Coast or Hobart.

Documenting APIs with JavaDoc

Clear API documentation is non-negotiable when multiple teams consume each other's services. NetBeans includes strong JavaDoc support, letting you generate HTML documentation directly from your IDE. You can configure output destinations, custom stylesheets, and tags through the project properties dialog, as detailed in the javadoc configuration guide.

Beyond standard JavaDoc, consider adding OpenAPI annotations like @Operation and @ApiResponse to your REST controllers. Combined with springdoc-openapi, this produces an interactive Swagger UI where consumers can test endpoints. NetBeans will display the generated documentation in its built-in browser tab, keeping everything in one workspace.

Testing and deployment considerations

Before shipping to production, run unit and integration tests using JUnit 5 and Testcontainers. NetBeans integrates with Maven's test phase, so a single click on the project runs the entire suite. Pay particular attention to contract tests between services, ensuring that the customer's API expectations match what the order service actually delivers.

For deployment, containerise each service with a multi-stage Dockerfile that builds inside a NetBeans-managed Maven run configuration. Many Australian teams ship to AWS, Azure Australia East, or on-premise Kubernetes clusters running in Sydney data centres. Tools like Skaffold or Jib streamline the image build process, and NetBeans' external tools configuration lets you trigger them from the IDE menu. When you need to verify IP-based access controls or compare network segments, a Python overlap checker can be a handy companion utility during integration testing.

Pre-deployment checklist

Run the full Maven test suite and review coverage
Generate JavaDoc and confirm all public APIs are documented
Build container images with reproducible tags
Scan images for known vulnerabilities using Trivy or Grype
Verify database migrations against a staging environment
Confirm service discovery registrations are healthy