BACKGROUND

The documentation on the web regarding Ehcache 3.x configuration using Spring is rather lacking. There is apparently a very distinct difference in Spring Java-based configuration between Ehcache 2.x vs Ehcache 3.x.

Spring + Ehcache 2.x

Dependency:-

<dependency>
    <groupId>net.sf.ehcache</groupId>
    <artifactId>ehcache</artifactId>
    <version>2.10.3</version>
</dependency>

Spring configuration:-

@Configuration
@EnableCaching
class Config {
    @Bean
    CacheManager cacheManager() {
        return new EhCacheCacheManager(ehCacheManager())
    }

    @Bean(destroyMethod = 'shutdown')
    net.sf.ehcache.CacheManager ehCacheManager() {
        CacheConfiguration cacheConfiguration = new CacheConfiguration(
                name: 'person',
                maxEntriesLocalHeap: 5,
                timeToLiveSeconds: 5
        )

        net.sf.ehcache.config.Configuration config = new net.sf.ehcache.config.Configuration()
        config.addCache(cacheConfiguration)

        return new net.sf.ehcache.CacheManager(config)
    }
}

Spring + Ehcache 3.x

Dependency:-

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.ehcache</groupId>
    <artifactId>ehcache</artifactId>
    <version>3.3.1</version>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.cache</groupId>
    <artifactId>cache-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.0.0</version>
</dependency>

Spring configuration:-

import org.ehcache.config.CacheConfiguration
import org.ehcache.config.builders.CacheConfigurationBuilder
import org.ehcache.config.builders.ResourcePoolsBuilder
import org.ehcache.core.config.DefaultConfiguration
import org.ehcache.expiry.Duration
import org.ehcache.expiry.Expirations
import org.ehcache.jsr107.EhcacheCachingProvider
import org.springframework.cache.annotation.EnableCaching
import org.springframework.cache.jcache.JCacheCacheManager
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Bean
import org.springframework.context.annotation.Configuration

import javax.cache.CacheManager
import javax.cache.Caching
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit

@Configuration
@EnableCaching
class Config {
    @Bean
    JCacheCacheManager jCacheCacheManager() {
        return new JCacheCacheManager(cacheManager())
    }

    @Bean(destroyMethod = 'close')
    CacheManager cacheManager() {
        CacheConfiguration cacheConfiguration = CacheConfigurationBuilder.newCacheConfigurationBuilder(
                Object,
                Object,
                ResourcePoolsBuilder.heap(5)).
                withExpiry(Expirations.timeToLiveExpiration(new Duration(5, TimeUnit.SECONDS))).
                build()

        Map<String, CacheConfiguration> caches = ['person': cacheConfiguration]

        EhcacheCachingProvider provider = (EhcacheCachingProvider) Caching.getCachingProvider()
        DefaultConfiguration configuration = new DefaultConfiguration(caches, provider.getDefaultClassLoader())

        return provider.getCacheManager(provider.getDefaultURI(), configuration)
    }
}