What is the main difference between 1x and 2x

[d-sauer]

Currently I started working on API GW, using Zuul 1.x
And we are planing to use it as gw for microservices, with some additional filters for adding JWT and some other headers provided by "top" services. This informations should be collected in parallel.

I was planing to use Zuul 2.x, but couldn't find any insights?
What are main advantages, and is it a smart decision to move to 2.x, to be used in future production?

[NiteshKant]

@d-sauer Unfortunately there is no documentation about the motivations for 2.x and what it changes. I am intending to put together something in the coming weeks when time permits. As of today, I hope the following suffices:

What is 2.x?

2.x intends to move zuul from current synchronous execution model to a top to bottom asynchronous processing model. This includes using non-blocking I/O (practically RxNetty as the networking library) and application processing semantics (RxJava as the asynchronous library)

Why 2.x?

Intentionally staying away from proofs and benchmarks, the motivation for 2.x (essentially moving to an async model) is to have better resilience, control and performance characteristics for all applications inside Netflix.

Status

The current status of 2.x is snapshot. We are currently testing the new filter model (async) with blocking I/O inside netflix. Once we are comfortable with this change, we will be testing the changes with non-blocking I/O. After that we will be publishing release candidate and release artifacts.

Should you adopt 2.x now?

2.x is really very bleeding edge (sorry for the cliche) so we will be changing APIs, deployment models and implementations. So, unless you are prepared to take the burden of keeping up with these changes, I would recommend waiting a while.
Also, 2.x comes with lots of changes in usage, so most likely you will have to change all your existing filters, if any. This can be a big task depending on the current usage. So, it is your decision on that front in terms of ROI.

[d-sauer]

@NiteshKant thanks for so detail explanation and for the advice.