What are the main changes and innovations introduced in Spring Boot starting from version 2.x?

Starting from Spring Boot 2.x, the following key changes and innovations were introduced:

• Update of core dependencies — transition to Spring Framework 5, enabling new features including reactive programming support.
• Support for Java 8 and above — use of lambda expressions and new APIs.
• Enhanced configuration and auto-configuration — a more flexible and extensible auto-configuration system.
• Updated Actuator — extended monitoring and management capabilities with a new API and metrics.
• Support for reactive stacks — integration with WebFlux for creating reactive web applications.
• Security improvements — updates in Spring Security and easier configuration.

Example of using Actuator for monitoring:

// In application.properties
management.endpoints.web.exposure.include=health,info

// In code, you can get application status information via HTTP /actuator/health

These changes made Spring Boot more modern, flexible, and convenient for developing microservices and reactive applications.