MICROSERVICES ARCHITECTURE
Why A Microservices Architecture?
Microservices architecture has risen in popularity because its modular characteristics lead to flexibility, scalability, and reduced development effort. Its deployment flexibility, and the rise of cloud-native serverless and function-as-a-service deployment options (such as AWS Lambda and Microsoft Azure Cloud Functions), have created the perfect environment for microservices to flourish in today’s IT landscape. These cloud platforms enable microservices and functions to be scaled from inactivity to high volume and back again while customers pay only for the compute capacity they use.
As businesses are continuously looking to be more agile, reduce bottlenecks, and improve application delivery times, microservices architecture continues to rise in popularity.
Benefits of a Microservices Architecture
- Application components can be built in different programming languages
- Individual continuous development and deployment streams can be sustained
- Extremely scalable applications can be built
- Use of cloud-native function-as-a-service deployment options is possible
- Lower operational costs often result
- Isolation and loose-coupling enables compartmentalized upgrades and enhancements
The Future: Event-driven Microservices, Serverless Computing, and FaaS
When people first start experimenting with microservices, they often default to using familiar techniques, for example, RESTful APIs. REST operates on a request-response type of communication. The problem with this synchronous approach is that you have to wait for a response; the services become dependent on each other. If one service is running slower or doesn’t respond, it means the service that called it will run slower or fail. This coupling can mean losing some of the benefits of a microservices architecture, creating a more interdependent structure akin to a services oriented architecture (SOA) style.
If you design your services using an event-driven model, you can ensure that parts of your application continue to work, while other parts may not be involved, as opposed to the entire application becoming unresponsive. Take Netflix as an example. On occasion, you might notice that the “continue watching” button doesn’t appear. This is because a specific service isn’t available. However that doesn’t mean all of Netflix stops. Users can still browse for shows and watch previews, so other aspects of the Netflix service are still available, even though one service may not be.
Our team at InstaTech fully embrace a microservices approach and realize that true scalability is enabled with loose coupling and event-driven architecture. A service can be asynchronous, performing an action, broadcasting a message, and continuing on with its primary function without having to wait for a response from another service.
Examples Of Microservices Architecture Use Cases
Adopt cloud-native deployment options
Leverage serverless and function-as-a-service for more efficient and scalable operations.
Migrate functionality from legacy applications
Decompose services from large monolithic applications so they can be independently maintained and scaled.
Leverage modern application architecture
embrace event-driven, loosely-coupled microservice application patterns, with the ability to leverage different programming languages depending on use case needs. For example, go for computationally heavy functions, Node.js for quick web apps, etc.
Cloud-Native Aplication
WHY DO CLOUD-NATIVE APLICATIONS MATTER?
Cloud native apps are built and deployed in a rapid cadence by small, dedicated feature teams to a platform that offers easy scale-out and hardware decoupling. This approach provides organizations with greater agility, resilience, and portability across cloud environments.
Gain a competitive advantage.
Cloud native development means switching from a focus on IT cost savings to seeing the cloud as an engine of business growth. In the age of software, businesses that can quickly build and deliver applications in response to customer needs will achieve enduring success.
Enable teams to focus on resilience.
When legacy infrastructure fails, services can suffer. In a cloud native world, teams can focus on architecting for resilience. The rapidly expanding cloud native landscape helps developers and architects design systems that stay online regardless of hiccups in the environment.
Achieve greater flexibility.
Public cloud providers continue to offer impressive services at reasonable cost. But most enterprises aren’t ready to choose just one cloud environment. With a platform that supports cloud native development, enterprises build applications that run on any public or private cloud without modification. Teams retain the ability to run apps and services where it makes the most business sense—while avoiding cloud lock-in.
Align operations with business needs.
By automating IT operations, enterprises can transform into lean, focused teams aligned to business priorities. This eliminates the risk of failure due to human error as staff focus on automation to replace manual admin tasks. Automated live patching and upgrades at all levels of the stack eliminates downtime and the need for ops experts with ‘hand-me-down’ expertise.
THE BENEFITS OF MICROSERVICES
- Managing Your Infrastructure Gets Easier
- Cloud-Native Apps Are Resilient to Failures
- You Can Release Your Apps Faster
- Lower Costs
- Your App Scales Automatically to Accommodate Your Growing Needs
- You App Supports Auto-Provisioning
- You’ll Provide a Better Customer Experience