Fix catalog-service startup when config-server is not available

Contribution Overview

The Engineering Context

This contribution was made to the rajadilipkolli/spring-boot-microservices-series-v2open-source repository. The work involved understanding the existing codebase, identifying the underlying engineering problem, implementing a focused solution, and validating the change against the project's existing behaviour and testing standards.

Engineering Problem

Understanding the Problem

The catalog-service failed during startup when the config-server was unavailable because the spring.config.import configuration was treated as mandatory.

Solution

Implementation Approach

Made the Config Server import optional so catalog-service can start successfully even when the config-server is unavailable, while preserving external configuration support when the Config Server is running.

Technologies

Engineering Stack