The term “microservices” refers to a software architecture that consists of small, simple applications that do one job. Microservices are typically self-contained and can be deployed separately from each other. They can also be written in different languages, which helps reduce the risk of bugs and security vulnerabilities if one system becomes compromised.
Monoliths are large applications composed of many different functions or features—think massive Excel spreadsheets with hundreds or thousands of worksheets. Monoliths typically use a single codebase, making it challenging to update one part without affecting other parts of the program simultaneously (for example, when you change an equation on cell A1 in your spreadsheet).
With monolithic architecture, all components work together seamlessly as a singular entity from beginning to end—but because they’re so big and complex, it’s difficult for developers to make changes quickly without breaking something else along the way!
Increased Team Agility
In a monolithic environment, teams are restricted in their ability to react quickly and independently. Every change has to go through a lengthy approval process and often requires coordination with other groups that may be working on different parts of the codebase.
In addition, there is less flexibility when it comes to team size. If you want more people on your team (or just one person), you have to add another physical box or VM somewhere into your infrastructure—and that can take time and resources away from other projects and increase the cost overall.
With microservices, you can decompose work into smaller chunks so each team can be more agile in how they approach problems and changes without having to wait for approvals as they would when working within an app container such as Spring Cloud Data Flow or Apache NiFi (both of which we’ll discuss later). This means it’s easier for them to come up with creative solutions independently without worrying about impacting other layers of an application stack as much since these components are now decoupled from each other!
The agility further increases with the help of containerization and orchestration with the use of Docker and Kubernetes. People often consider Docker and Kubernetes as the same. However, both have different purposes. Docker is a containerization platform that allows hosting multiple container apps. On the other hand, Kubernetes is an orchestration platform that helps automate workflow. You can search and read about Kubernetes vs. Docker to understand the difference clearly.
With Kubernetes and Docker for microservice architecture, the development team can bind and automate the workflow of specific applications instead of the entire monolithic architecture as a whole.
Faster Release Cycles
In monolithic applications, all the functionalities of an application are wrapped up in one codebase. If a new feature needs to be added or changed, it may have to be done at a large scale and involve multiple developers working together over time.
In a microservices architecture, by contrast, each functionality can be implemented as a separate service that can be released independently of other services. That way, your team could focus on individual components separately instead of having all hands on deck for long periods at once; this results in faster release cycles while maintaining high-quality work standards across teams.
Improved Application Reliability
Microservices are more reliable than monolithic applications. This is because the smaller size and more straightforward design of a microservice-based application make it easier to understand, test, maintain, and scale your software.
For example:
- Microservices are easier to understand because their components are smaller and more straightforward. As a result, developers can focus on learning one element at a time instead of learning how all parts interact with each other in a massive monolithic application.
- Microservices are easier to test because they can be tested independently from other application or service suite components. This means that you don’t have to worry about trying multiple services at once if they’re not related—you only have to worry about testing what’s relevant to your specific task at hand (and if something goes wrong with one part of your system today then it doesn’t necessarily mean another portion will go down tomorrow).
- Microservices are easier to maintain because they contain less code than monolithic applications; therefore, there aren’t as many bugs lurking around waiting for developers like yourself! The fewer bugs there are in an application’s codebase means fewer problems need fixing before releasing new features into production, which makes everyone happy (especially those pesky end users).
More Flexibility and Maintainability
Microservices, by their very nature, are more flexible and maintainable. They are independent of each other and can be updated individually. This makes them easier to maintain because they can be scaled up or down as needed instead of having to update the entire monolith codebase at once.
Microservices also increase your application’s flexibility and scalability by making it easier to update each one independently. Because microservices are smaller in size, you can scale them more easily when necessary — with fewer problems arising from complex interdependencies between different parts of your application.
How Do You Set Up a Microservices Architecture and Make the Move
How do you set up a microservices architecture? The first step is to decide on a platform. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure are excellent because they offer high availability, scalability, and easy integration with other products that are part of the AWS or Azure ecosystem. Many companies use cloud-based platforms like these to host their applications because they can scale their services quickly and efficiently.
Once you’ve chosen your platform, it’s time for some hands-on work! The first thing that needs to be done is setting up an application container based on Docker—this means creating the necessary containers for each service to be quickly started when needed by developers or users (or both).
Next comes writing code for each microservice—this may seem like more work than writing code for monolithic applications. Still, there’s no need for concern here because modern development environments support modularization very well through things like modules or classes/functions in Python projects or libraries/packages in C++ ones; additionally, most languages nowadays have libraries available which make developing reusable components much easier than it used to be even just ten years ago when there weren’t any tools yet explicitly designed just for this purpose!
Finally comes deployment onto production servers, where they will run alongside other services from different clients.
Conclusion
There are several reasons why microservices are preferable to monolith architecture. They’ve proven to be more reliable; they’re easier to scale, offer better modularity, and allow you to work on the application in a more agile way. With the right platform, these applications can cost you less too. But it all comes down to your commitment to DevOps first principles.
Microservices have many benefits, but they will not be worth the cost unless you can set up your microservices architecture in a way that supports your organization.