Assessing the Efficiency of Java Virtual Threads in Database-Driven Server Applications

Virtual Threads represent a contemporary structured concurrency model in Java Virtual Machine (JVM) seeking to increase the performance of multi-threaded Java applications by optimizing the utilization of the operating system (OS) resources. Virtual Threads were first introduced within the OpenJDK project Loom as lightweight threads based on the native implementation of thread schedulers inside the JVM that are less reliant on OS schedulers. Within the Java Development Kit (JDK), Virtual Threads were presented as a preview feature in JDK 19/20 and became fully implemented as a part of the standard JDK 21.Given the paucity of research on the efficiency of Java’s Virtual Threads, particularly in cloud-based environments, we explored the role of Virtual Threads in enhancing Java’s concurrency capabilities in the realm of database-driven cloud computing, particularly server applications with thread-per-request model and various backend databases. Our research examined Virtual Threads’ efficiency in comparison with Java’s traditional threads within database-driven server applications with use cases utilizing common data frameworks to access relational and non-relational databases. From our findings and preliminary results, we propose the possible utilization of Virtual Threads in modern database-driven framework-based server applications in the cloud.