How to enable GZIP compression of server's http responses in JBoss EAP 7

Environment

• Red Hat Enterprise Application Platform (EAP)
  • 7.x

Issue

• How to update our Jboss system to enable GZIP compression. Is this something new in EAP 7 and would it require changes to enable it?

Resolution

• First of all consider that there are a number of conditions for response compression to work:

  • The client must send an Accept-Encoding=gzip,deflate header requesting the response to be compressed
  • The request must reach EAP via HTTP protocol, AJP protocol does not support gzip encoding

• In order to create the gzip filter:

  1. Connect to JBoss cli : ./jboss-cli.sh -c and then create a gzip filter using the below command :

      /subsystem=undertow/configuration=filter/gzip=gzipfilter:add()
     

     This will add the below gzipfilter under the undertow subsystem :

     <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:undertow:3.1">
     ........
     ........
      <filters>
                   <response-header name="server-header" header-name="Server" header-value="JBoss-EAP/7"/>
                   <response-header name="x-powered-by-header" header-name="X-Powered-By" header-value="Undertow/1"/>
                   <gzip name="gzipfilter"/>
               </filters>
           </subsystem>
     

  2. Then add this filter to the default-host using the below CLI command :

      /subsystem=undertow/server=default-server/host=default-host/filter-ref=gzipfilter:add()
     

     which creates the below configuration in standalone-*.xml :

       <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:undertow:3.1">
                 ......
                 .......
     
                     <host name="default-host" default-web-module="ClusterWebApp.war" alias="localhost">
                         <access-log pattern="%h %l %u %t &quot;%r&quot; %s %b &quot;%{i,Referer}&quot; &quot;%{i,User-Agent}&quot; &quot;%{i,COOKIE}&quot; &quot;%{o,SET-COOKIE}&quot; %S &quot;%I&quot; %T"/>
                         ......
                         .....
                         <filter-ref name="gzipfilter"/>
     
                         .......
     

• Predicates can be used for conditional execution of the gzip filter. Some examples:

  • For using gzip filter for COMPRESSION_MIME_TYPES like text/javascript,text/css,text/html & having COMPRESSION_MIN_SIZE as 1024.

    /subsystem=undertow/server=default-server/host=default-host/filter-ref=gzipfilter:add(predicate="regex[pattern='text/(css|html|javascript)',value=%{o,Content-Type}] and (max-content-size[value=1024] or not exists(%{o,Content-Length}))")
    

    which creates the below configuration in standalone-*.xml :

    <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:undertow:3.1">
                  ... other configs....
                    <server name="default-server">
                        .... other configs....
                            <filter-ref name="gzipfilter" predicate="regex[pattern='text/(css|html|javascript)',value=%{o,Content-Type}] and (max-content-size[value=1024] or not exists(%{o,Content-Length}))"/>
                    .... other configs....
                    <filters>
                        <gzip name="gzipfilter"/>
                    </filters> 
     	</subsystem>
    

    This will cause the gzip filter to work for only text/javascript,text/css,text/html content types which are greater than 1024 bytes or in chunked encoded request (no content-length header).

  • Similarly, the filter can be configured per context:

    <subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:undertow:3.1">
                  ... other configs....
                    <server name="default-server">
                        .... other configs....
                           <filter-ref name="gzipfilter" predicate="path-template(value='/context1/*', match=%U) or path-template(value='/context2/*', match=%U) or path-template(value='/context3/*', match=%U)"/> 
                    .... other configs....
                    <filters>
                        <gzip name="gzipfilter"/>
                    </filters> 
     	</subsystem>
    

• Additional reading

  • Predicates: A predicate is a function that takes a value and returns a true or false value. This allows actions to be taken based on the return value of the predicate. See Predicates in EAP 7 Undertow Configuration
  • Refer to Migration guide from EAP6 to EAP7 : Web Subsystem Migration Section for more details.
  • Refer to Content from undertow.io is not included.Undertow Predicates-Attributes-Handlers for more details on How to Use Predicates.

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