Microservices architecture is becoming more popular daily, but why should you care?
This blog post will explain them and when to use them in your infrastructure.
We will also provide some best practices for working with microservices.
Let's get into it right away!
What are Microservices?
In microservices, software elements work as independent services to achieve a common goal.
Each service has a task while also interacting with each other using defined interfaces.
This approach makes developing, scaling and maintaining large, complex applications more accessible.
In short, this Software Architecture path clusters entire applications as individual service that communicate with other services through APIs.
Further, Microservices Architecture include:
- Decentralization. Instead of a monolithic architecture, microservices are decentralized. The architecture allows services to update and scale without affecting the entire system.
- Autonomy. Microservices are independent, which enables individual development and testing. This approach shortens service changes without impacting the whole system.
- Diversity. Microservices are known for allowing technology diversity. Devs can use different programming languages, coding frameworks and database management.
- Delivery. This type of architecture is perfect for Continuous Delivery (CD) as it ensures quick and safe deployment of changes.
How to Build a Microservices Architecture?
There are some steps and best practices to put microservices in place:
- Monoliths. Start with a monolithic application and break it into microservices to balidate your idea and set your system capabilities.
- Organization. Microservices often need a team organization that focuses small teams for deployment and operations.
- Boundaries. Define how to split your application into services with domain-driven principles and API planning.
- Stacks. Microservices let teams choose technologies based on their needs. Yet, diverse environments may increase complexity and need more operational work.
- Patterns. In microservices, each problem demands a specific solution within a common pattern. Examples include circuit breakers and timeouts to handle network failures.
- Testing. This architecture requires different testing and deployment than monolithic applications. Each service should be tested by itself and others with automated testing tools and frameworks. Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) pipelines are also highly advisable.
When to use Microservices?
Microservices are not a silver bullet for every project—you should use them cautiously.
Scenarios where microservices are a good choice include big changing workloads or many teams working on an application.
The latter becomes especially relevant when teams need to be independent in their development and deployment cycles.
Microservices are also helpful when an app needs different techs and uses several languages, frameworks or tools.
They can help when applications must be running at all times. A service line failing should not affect others!
Nonetheless, there are some scenarios where microservices can be a wrong choice.
The first is when the application is simple and can work as a single unit or a few modules.
Microservices can be inefficient if you have a small team with no skills or resources to handle them.
If devs must share updates across many services with constant integrations, microservices may not be the best idea.
This also applies when the product needs to be fast or work without errors.
Why are Microservices Important?
Microservices became important due to its ability to work code more independently.
If there is an issue in one service, it won't crash or affect other services—there are no single points of failure.
Moreover, DevOps teams can also add new microservices to a product without affecting other parts.
Individual microservices are able to scale out to provide extra availability and capacity.
In short, it's easier to add new features and functionality to it.
Conclusion
Microservices applications are a hot topic in software development and architecture.
This approach does wonders for handling more work and fixing mistakes faster.
It also simplifies the codebase and encourages experimentation.
The future of microservices looks promising.
It will be fascinating to see how business capabilities will thrive!
Wondering if microservices is the right approach for your project? Get in touch!
