Serialization Supported by the Dubbo Protocol on Apache Dubbo

Hessian

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

Hessian serialization is a network protocol that supports dynamic typing, cross-language, and object-based transfer. The binary stream of Java object serialization can be used by other languages (such as C++, Python). Its features include:

Self-describing serialization types. It does not rely on external description files or interface definitions and uses one byte to represent common basic types, significantly shortening the binary stream.
Language-independent, supports scripting languages.
Simple protocol, more efficient than Java native serialization.
Compared to Hessian1, Hessian2 adds compressed encoding, the size of its serialized binary stream is 50% of Java serialization, serialization time is 30% of Java serialization, and deserialization time is 20% of Java serialization.

2 Usage

In the Dubbo framework, when using the Dubbo communication protocol, Hessian2 is used as the default serialization.

Fastjson2

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

FASTJSON v2 is an important upgrade of the FASTJSON project, aimed at providing a high-performance JSON library for the next decade. With the same API,

Supports both JSON/JSONB protocols, with JSONPath as a first-class citizen.
Supports full parsing and partial parsing.
Supports Java server-side, client-side Android, and big data scenarios.
Supports Kotlin https://alibaba.github.io/fastjson2
Supports JSON Schema https://alibaba.github.io/fastjson2
Supports Android 8+
Supports Graal Native-Image
Supports JSON Schema https://alibaba.github.io/fastjson2

2 Usage

2.1 Add Dependency

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>com.alibaba.fastjson2</groupId>
 <artifactId>fastjson2</artifactId>
 <version>2.0.23</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

Note: Fastjson2 serialization is only supported in Dubbo > 3.1.0. In Dubbo > 3.2.0, it will replace Hessian as the default serialization method.

Fastjson

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

Fastjson is a Java library used to convert Java objects to their JSON representation. It can also be used to convert JSON strings to equivalent Java objects. Fastjson can handle any Java object, including pre-existing objects for which you do not have source code.

2 How to Use

2.1 Adding Dependencies

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-fastjson</artifactId>
 <version>3.3.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>com.alibaba</groupId>
 <artifactId>fastjson</artifactId>
 <version>1.2.83</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuration Enabling

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: fastjson

Avro

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

Avro is a remote procedure call and data serialization framework developed within the Apache Hadoop project. It uses JSON to define data types and communication protocols, and a compact binary format to serialize data. It is primarily used with Hadoop, providing a serialization format for persistent data and serving as a protocol for communication between Hadoop nodes and from client programs to Hadoop services.

2 Usage

2.1 Add Dependency

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-avro</artifactId>
 <version>3.3.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.avro</groupId>
 <artifactId>avro</artifactId>
 <version>1.11.1</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuration Enable

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: avro

FST

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

FST serialization stands for Fast Serialization, which is a replacement implementation for Java serialization. Since the previous discussion highlighted two serious shortcomings of Java serialization, these have been significantly improved in FST. The characteristics of FST are as follows:

Improved performance by 10 times compared to JDK serialization, with size reduction of more than 3-4 times
Supports off-heap Maps and the persistence of off-heap Maps
Supports serialization to JSON

2 Usage

2.1 Adding Dependencies

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-fst</artifactId>
 <version>3.3.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>de.ruedigermoeller</groupId>
 <artifactId>fst</artifactId>
 <version>3.0.3</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuring Activation

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: fst

Gson

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

Gson is an open-source Java library released by Google, primarily used for serializing Java objects to JSON strings or deserializing JSON strings into Java objects.

2 Usage

2.1 Add Dependency

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-gson</artifactId>
 <version>3.3.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>com.google.code.gson</groupId>
 <artifactId>gson</artifactId>
 <version>2.10.1</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuration Enable

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: gson

# dubbo.properties
dubbo.protocol.serialization=gson

# or
dubbo.consumer.serialization=gson

# or
dubbo.reference.com.demo.DemoService.serialization=gson

<dubbo:protocol serialization="gson" />

 <!-- or -->
<dubbo:consumer serialization="gson" />

 <!-- or -->
<dubbo:reference interface="xxx" serialization="gson" />

Kryo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

Kryo is a very mature serialization implementation that has been widely used in Twitter, Groupon, Yahoo, and several well-known open-source projects (such as Hive, Storm).

2 How to Use

2.1 Adding Dependencies

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-kryo</artifactId>
 <version>1.0.1</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>com.esotericsoftware</groupId>
 <artifactId>kryo</artifactId>
 <version>5.4.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>de.javakaffee</groupId>
 <artifactId>kryo-serializers</artifactId>
 <version>0.45</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuration Enable

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: kryo

# dubbo.properties
dubbo.protocol.serialization=kryo

# or
dubbo.consumer.serialization=kryo

# or
dubbo.reference.com.demo.DemoService.serialization=kryo

MessagePack

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

1 Introduction

MessagePack is a computer data interchange format. It is a binary format used to represent simple data structures such as arrays and associative arrays. MessagePack is designed to be as compact and simple as possible.

2 How to Use

2.1 Adding Dependencies

<dependencies>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.apache.dubbo.extensions</groupId>
 <artifactId>dubbo-serialization-msgpack</artifactId>
 <version>3.3.0</version>
 </dependency>
 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.msgpack</groupId>
 <artifactId>msgpack-core</artifactId>
 <version>0.9.3</version>
 </dependency>

 <dependency>
 <groupId>org.msgpack</groupId>
 <artifactId>jackson-dataformat-msgpack</artifactId>
 <version>0.9.3</version>
 </dependency>
</dependencies>

2.2 Configuration Enable

# application.yml (Spring Boot)
dubbo:
 protocol:
 serialization: msgpack