PrimRoseHTTP

A high-performance, event-driven, multithreaded HTTP 1.1 server built with Netty and Java.

PrimRoseHTTP is designed for low-level control, high concurrency, and Prometheus-compatible metrics, with a browser-friendly dashboard.

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Features

• Non-blocking, event-driven architecture using Netty
• Multi-handler pipeline:
  • / → Index page
  • /hello → Hello World
  • /about → Developer Information
  • /metrics → Prometheus metrics
  • /metrics-dashboard → Live HTML metrics dashboard with auto-refresh and charts
  • All other paths → 404 Not Found
• Metrics monitoring:
  • Total HTTP requests
  • Active connections
• Browser-friendly dashboard using plain javascript
• Unit-tested using JUnit 5 and Netty EmbeddedChannel
• Maven build with Shade plugin for runnable fat JAR
• Javadoc generation for full documentation

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Requirements

• Java 17+
• Maven 3.6+

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Getting Started

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/SouradipPatra7904/PrimRoseHTTP
cd PrimRoseHTTP

Build the project

mvn clean package

This generates a runnable fat JAR:

target/primrose_http_server-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

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Run the server

Default port 8080:

java -jar target/primrose_http_server-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Custom port:

java -jar target/primrose_http_server-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar 9090

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Test the endpoints

• Index: http://localhost:8080/
• Hello World: http://localhost:8080/hello
• Prometheus metrics: http://localhost:8080/metrics
• Browser dashboard: http://localhost:8080/metrics-dashboard
• 404 Not Found: any other path

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Run unit tests

mvn clean test

• All handlers are tested using Netty EmbeddedChannel
• /metrics endpoint is fully covered

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Metrics

Prometheus-compatible metrics:

# HELP http_total_requests Total number of HTTP requests
# TYPE http_total_requests counter
http_total_requests 10

# HELP http_active_connections Current number of active connections
# TYPE http_active_connections gauge
http_active_connections 2

Browser dashboard:

• Displays metrics in bar charts
• Auto-refreshes every 5 seconds
• Shows both total requests and active connections
• Includes link to raw /metrics endpoint

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Build & Packaging

• Maven Shade Plugin creates a runnable fat JAR
• Javadoc plugin generates API documentation:

mvn javadoc:javadoc

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Advanced Concepts Used

• Netty EventLoopGroup for multi-threaded, non-blocking IO
• Pipeline design pattern for modular request handling
• FullHttpRequest aggregation using HttpObjectAggregator
• Atomic metrics for thread-safe counters
• EmbeddedChannel for unit testing without a live server
• Chart.js integration for live metrics visualization
• Prometheus exposition format for observability
• Maven build lifecycle with Surefire, JaCoCo, and Shade

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Configuration

• application.properties holds configurable parameters:
  • Server port
  • Max connections
  • Optional timeouts
• .gitignore excludes sensitive files and build directories
• A sample file application.properties.example is provided for reference

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Notes

• Metrics endpoints are safe for Prometheus scraping and human-friendly viewing
• The pipeline order ensures /metrics and /metrics-dashboard are handled before other handlers
• Auto-refresh dashboard makes it easy to monitor server activity in real time

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PrimRoseHTTP combines low-level performance with developer-friendly metrics and testing, making it a solid foundation for high-concurrency HTTP services.