examples: Clean up Health, and document need for grpc-services

For something like this, putting all the config together in service config is what we would want to encourage. Remove unused/needless variables. Emphasize health checking more than round-robin. Add missing synchronization on server-side.
grpc · ejona86 · Apr 10, 2026 · Apr 1, 2026 · Apr 8, 2026 · Apr 8, 2026
commit 0a494caf82c2273eaf77091d381993478068f0e3
diff --git a/examples/build.gradle b/examples/build.gradle
@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ def protocVersion = protobufVersion
 
 dependencies {
     implementation "io.grpc:grpc-protobuf:${grpcVersion}"
+    // Even though client-side won't call grpc-services directly, it needs the
+    // dependency to enable the health-aware round_robin implementation
     implementation "io.grpc:grpc-services:${grpcVersion}"
     implementation "io.grpc:grpc-stub:${grpcVersion}"
 

diff --git a/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/HealthServiceClient.java b/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/HealthServiceClient.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import io.grpc.health.v1.HealthCheckResponse.ServingStatus;
 import io.grpc.health.v1.HealthGrpc;
 import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.HashMap;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
@@ -45,25 +46,17 @@ public class HealthServiceClient {
   private static final Logger logger = Logger.getLogger(HealthServiceClient.class.getName());
 
   private final GreeterGrpc.GreeterBlockingStub greeterBlockingStub;
-  private final HealthGrpc.HealthStub healthStub;
   private final HealthGrpc.HealthBlockingStub healthBlockingStub;
 
-  private final HealthCheckRequest healthRequest;
-
   /** Construct client for accessing HelloWorld server using the existing channel. */
   public HealthServiceClient(Channel channel) {
     greeterBlockingStub = GreeterGrpc.newBlockingStub(channel);
-    healthStub = HealthGrpc.newStub(channel);
     healthBlockingStub = HealthGrpc.newBlockingStub(channel);
-    healthRequest = HealthCheckRequest.getDefaultInstance();
-    LoadBalancerProvider roundRobin = LoadBalancerRegistry.getDefaultRegistry()
-        .getProvider("round_robin");
-
   }
 
   private ServingStatus checkHealth(String prefix) {
     HealthCheckResponse response =
-        healthBlockingStub.check(healthRequest);
+        healthBlockingStub.check(HealthCheckRequest.getDefaultInstance());
     logger.info(prefix + ", current health is: " + response.getStatus());
     return response.getStatus();
   }
@@ -86,34 +79,35 @@ public void greet(String name) {
   }
 
 
-  private static void runTest(String target, String[] users, boolean useRoundRobin)
+  private static void runTest(String target, String[] users, boolean enableHealthChecking)
       throws InterruptedException {
-    ManagedChannelBuilder<?> builder =
-        Grpc.newChannelBuilder(target, InsecureChannelCredentials.create());
-
-    // Round Robin, when a healthCheckConfig is present in the default service configuration, runs
-    // a watch on the health service and when picking an endpoint will
-    // consider a transport to a server whose service is not in SERVING state to be unavailable.
-    // Since we only have a single server we are connecting to, then the load balancer will
-    // return an error without sending the RPC.
-    if (useRoundRobin) {
-      builder = builder
-        .defaultLoadBalancingPolicy("round_robin")
-        .defaultServiceConfig(generateHealthConfig(""));
+    // Enable the round_robin load balancer, with or without health checking.
+    Map<String, Object> serviceConfig;
+    if (enableHealthChecking) {
+      serviceConfig = generateServiceConfig("");
+    } else {
+      serviceConfig = generateServiceConfig(null);
     }
+    ManagedChannel channel =
+        Grpc.newChannelBuilder(target, InsecureChannelCredentials.create())
+        .defaultServiceConfig(serviceConfig)
+        .build();
 
-    ManagedChannel channel = builder.build();
+    // Round Robin, when a healthCheckConfig is present in the service configuration, runs a watch
+    // on the health service and when picking an endpoint will consider a transport to a server
+    // whose service is not in SERVING state to be unavailable. Since we only have a single server
+    // we are connecting to, then the load balancer will return an error without sending the RPC.
 
-    System.out.println("\nDoing test with" + (useRoundRobin ? "" : "out")
-      + " the Round Robin load balancer\n");
+    System.out.println("\nDoing test with" + (enableHealthChecking ? "" : "out")
+      + " health checking\n");
 
     try {
       HealthServiceClient client = new HealthServiceClient(channel);
-      if (!useRoundRobin) {
+      if (!enableHealthChecking) {
         client.checkHealth("Before call");
       }
       client.greet(users[0]);
-      if (!useRoundRobin) {
+      if (!enableHealthChecking) {
         client.checkHealth("After user " + users[0]);
       }
 
@@ -122,7 +116,7 @@ private static void runTest(String target, String[] users, boolean useRoundRobin
         Thread.sleep(100); // Since the health update is asynchronous give it time to propagate
       }
 
-      if (!useRoundRobin) {
+      if (!enableHealthChecking) {
         client.checkHealth("After all users");
         Thread.sleep(10000);
         client.checkHealth("After 10 second wait");
@@ -137,12 +131,17 @@ private static void runTest(String target, String[] users, boolean useRoundRobin
       channel.shutdownNow().awaitTermination(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS);
     }
   }
-  private static Map<String, Object> generateHealthConfig(String serviceName) {
+  private static Map<String, Object> generateServiceConfig(String healthServiceName) {
     Map<String, Object> config = new HashMap<>();
-    Map<String, Object> serviceMap = new HashMap<>();
-
-    config.put("healthCheckConfig", serviceMap);
-    serviceMap.put("serviceName", serviceName);
+    if (healthServiceName != null) {
+      config.put("healthCheckConfig", Collections.singletonMap("serviceName", healthServiceName));
+    }
+    // There is more than one round_robin implementation. If the client doesn't depend on
+    // io.grpc:grpc-services, then the round_robin implementation does not support health watching
+    // (to avoid a Protobuf dependency). When the client depends on grpc-services the
+    // health-supporting round_robin implementation is used instead.
+    config.put("loadBalancingConfig", Arrays.asList(
+        Collections.singletonMap("round_robin", Collections.emptyMap())));
     return config;
   }
 

diff --git a/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/HealthServiceServer.java b/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/HealthServiceServer.java
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException, InterruptedException
   }
 
   private class GreeterImpl extends GreeterGrpc.GreeterImplBase {
-    boolean isServing = true;
+    private volatile boolean isServing = true;
 
     @Override
     public void sayHello(HelloRequest req, StreamObserver<HelloReply> responseObserver) {
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@ public void run() {
     }
 
     private boolean isNameLongEnough(HelloRequest req) {
-      return isServing && req.getName().length() >= 5;
+      return req.getName().length() >= 5;
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/README.md b/examples/src/main/java/io/grpc/examples/healthservice/README.md
@@ -1,10 +1,13 @@
 gRPC Health Service Example
 =====================
 
-The Health Service example provides a HelloWorld gRPC server that doesn't like short names along with a
-health service. It also provides a client application which makes HelloWorld
-calls and checks the health status.
+The Health Service example provides a HelloWorld gRPC server that doesn't like
+short names along with a health service. It also provides a client application
+which makes HelloWorld calls and checks the health status.
 
 The client application also shows how the round robin load balancer can
 utilize the health status to avoid making calls to a service that is
 not actively serving.
+
+Note that clients must depend on `io.grpc:grpc-services` for the health-aware
+round_robin implementation to be used.