Introduction to Dubbo Serialization Mechanism

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

Supported Protocol List

The following is the list of serialization protocols supported by the Dubbo framework, classified by triple and dubbo RPC communication protocols.

RPC Protocol	Programming Mode	Serialization Protocol	Configuration Method	JDK Version	Description
triple	IDL	protobuf, protobuf-json	Default	8, 17, 21	Default serialization method when using IDL, clients can also choose protobuf-json for serialization communication without additional configuration
	Java Interface	protobuf-wrapper	serialization=“hessian”	8, 17, 21	This mode adopts a double serialization mode, where data is first serialized by hessian and then by protobuf. Supports a calling model equivalent to IDL, which is easy to use but with slightly reduced performance
dubbo	Java Interface	hessian	Default, serialization=“hessian”	8, 17, 21	The default serialization method for the dubbo protocol, featuring good compatibility, high performance, and cross-language advantages (java, go, c/c++, php, python, .net)
	Java Interface	protostuff	serialization=“protostuff”	8	A Java serialization library with built-in support for forward-backward compatibility (schema evolution) and validation.
	Java Interface	gson	serialization=“gson”	8, 17, 21	A JSON serialization library released by Google
	Java Interface	avro	serialization=“avro”	8, 17, 21	A high-performance serialization library for Java
	Java Interface	msgpack	serialization=“msgpack”	8, 17, 21	Offers good compatibility and multi-language implementations (Java, C/C++, Python, etc.)
	Java Interface	kryo	serialization=“kryo”	8, 17, 21	Kryo is a very mature serialization implementation, widely used in Twitter, Groupon, Yahoo, and many prominent open-source projects (like Hive, Storm).
	Java Interface	fastjson2	serialization=“fastjson2”	8, 17, 21	fastjson
	Java Interface	More extensions			dubbo-spi-extensions

Performance Comparison Report

Serialization plays a crucial role in response speed, throughput, and network bandwidth consumption for remote calls, making it one of the key factors in improving the performance of distributed systems.

Serialization Protocol Upgrade

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

In version 3.1.0, Dubbo adds support for Fastjson2 in its default serialization protocols. Some users may consider upgrading the serialization protocol in existing systems, but differences in server and client versions may result in the client not supporting the server’s serialization protocol.

In version 3.2.0, Dubbo’s server introduces a new configuration prefer-serialization, which can perfectly address the risks that may arise during the server serialization upgrade process.

Best Practices

Upgrading the serialization protocol requires two steps:

Serialization on Apache Dubbo

Introduction to Dubbo Serialization Mechanism

Supported Protocol List

Performance Comparison Report

Serialization Protocol Upgrade

Best Practices