Spring Cloud Alibaba 2021.0.1.0: New Features, Version Rules Explained

Spring Cloud Alibaba 2021.0.1.0 was announced on March 9, based on Spring Boot 2.6.3 and Spring Cloud 2021.0.1 . Users upgrading should note this baseline.

Version Details

Below are the main updates in this release:

Nacos : Nacos client upgraded to 1.4.2, fixing issues from 1.4.1 and adding service discovery fault tolerance.

RocketMQ : Updated to 4.9.2, integrating a previously separate branch; adds batch messaging, async support, message callbacks, and the ability to specify the consumption start offset in push mode.

Sentinel : Updated to 1.8.3, providing flexible flow‑control rules for FeignClient, including global default circuit‑breaker rules and method‑level flow control.

Spring Boot : Based on Spring Boot 2.6.3, now supports spring.config.import for easier Nacos configuration integration.

For a full feature list, see the official Spring blog.

Version Numbering Changes

Spring Cloud changed its version‑numbering scheme, causing confusion with Spring Cloud Alibaba versions. Starting with 2021.0.1.0, Spring Cloud Alibaba aligns its first three digits with the corresponding Spring Cloud version; the last digit denotes the Alibaba component’s extension version.

This alignment makes it easier to identify the compatible Spring Cloud baseline for a given Spring Cloud Alibaba release.