Spring Boot provides several advantages over the traditional Spring Framework. It simplifies dependency management with starter dependencies, provides embedded servers to ease deployment, and reduces the need for extensive XML configuration through its convention over configuration approach . Furthermore, it includes an application monitoring tool, Spring Actuator, and offers better integration with modern development tools like Spring Initializer and Spring Boot CLI .

The embedded server in Spring Boot, such as an embedded Tomcat, can be customized or replaced by specifying server configurations in the application properties file or through programmatic configuration. Developers can alter the default port, configure SSL, or add additional connectors. It's also possible to replace the embedded Tomcat with another server, like Jetty or Undertow, by excluding Tomcat dependencies and adding the desired server dependencies in the build file .

The Spring Boot Initializer simplifies setting up new Spring applications by providing a web-based interface to configure project settings: language, build system, dependencies, and specific Spring Boot version. Developers can choose necessary dependencies like JDBC, web, or security modules, customize metadata, and then generate a ready-to-use application starter pack. This streamlines the project creation process and ensures a consistent project structure, reducing the time needed to start development .

The @RequestMapping annotation is a versatile annotation used for mapping web requests onto specific handler classes and methods. It supports defining request URLs, HTTP methods, request parameters, headers, and consumes/produces attributes. @GetMapping is a specialized version of @RequestMapping for handling HTTP GET requests more explicitly and succinctly, simplifying the code. @RequestMapping can be used when handling multiple HTTP methods with complex configurations, while @GetMapping is appropriate when handling simple GET requests .

The @SpringBootApplication annotation is a convenience annotation that combines @Configuration, @EnableAutoConfiguration, and @ComponentScan with their default attributes. It marks the main class of a Spring Boot application and enables component scanning for the package it is declared in. Internally, @ComponentScan scans for other components, configurations, and services in the specified package, enabling automatic configuration to ensure that the Spring framework can discover and register beans .

Spring Boot's auto-configuration seamlessly provides configurations based on the application's dependencies, saving developers significant setup time and providing a good starting point. It follows a convention over configuration approach, making it easier for developers to get started quickly without needing to handle numerous setup and configuration manually. However, manual configuration may be preferred in cases where more granular control over specific configurations is required, or where application behavior needs precise customization beyond default provided settings .

Dependency Injection (DI) in Spring Boot is a design pattern that enables the creation of dependent objects outside of a class and provides those objects to a class in various ways. This results in loosely coupled and easily testable components, enhancing the application's architecture by promoting reusability and simplifying maintenance. DI is typically managed by Spring's IoC (Inversion of Control) container, which injects the required dependencies at runtime, allowing for configurable behavior and greater flexibility .

Spring Boot provides monitoring and management capabilities through Spring Actuator, a module that exposes operational information about the running application. It includes features such as health checks, metrics gathering, application status and environment details, and auditing. Actuator endpoints, like '/actuator/health', '/actuator/metrics', and '/actuator/env', provide access to these features, enabling developers to monitor application performance and diagnose issues .

Spring Boot CLI (Command Line Interface) is a tool that allows developers to create Spring applications using Groovy scripts, accelerating the application development process by reducing the boilerplate code needed. It simplifies dependency management and supports running Spring applications directly from the command line. Primary commands include 'spring run', which runs the Groovy script directly, 'spring jar', which packages the scripts into executable jar files, and 'spring test', which runs tests for the code .

The @RestController annotation is used in Spring Boot to create RESTful web services. It combines @Controller and @ResponseBody, not requiring each method to have a @ResponseBody annotation, by default returning the response as JSON or XML. In contrast, the @Controller annotation is used to define a controller under the Spring MVC framework and typically returns a view name processed by a view resolver to render an HTML response. @RestController simplifies the development of RESTful APIs by reducing boilerplate code .