Microservices

Microservices is an application architecture approach in which small, autonomous services interact with one another through a shared fabric. Each service is a separate codebase, communicating with others using APIs (Application Programming Interface). 

Each microservice hosts its own datastore. The granular functionality of microservices enables businesses to scale up without having to allocate a large sum of their resources. 

Unlike monolithic architectures in which all aspects of the software/app operate as a single unit, microservices decentralize all software components and data, allowing businesses to experience unparalleled scalability and flexibility in their tech stack. 

Microservices remove the bottlenecks of a monolithic architecture by dividing a large application into smaller, decoupled parts, with each part having its own realm of responsibility. To address a user request, a microservices-based application can engage many internal microservices to create the response. That means businesses don’t need to worry about long outages anymore. 

Migrating to microservices unlocks a host of other opportunities for businesses including:

This is perhaps the most tempting reason for businesses to adopt microservices architecture. The capacity of each component to run independently makes it easy to add, remove or scale individual microservices. On top of that, when an individual component is being affected by any kind of change, other microservices that comprise an application are able to work with no disruption.

Microservices architecture is an ideal way to create a better customer experience. Loosely coupled microservices ensure quicker app development and rollout, enabling companies to ‘fail fast’ and adhere to their agile product timelines. 

Imagine your business owns an online shop. Using a microservice-based architecture, you will be able to minimize your time-to-market product launches, boosting your productivity and creating a seamless customer experience.

From a developer’s point of view, a significant benefit of a microservice architecture is its capacity for autonomous deployment and monitoring through what is called CI/CD (continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment). 

Developing can be faster as each app has its own CI/CD cycle and teams can develop their products without having to interfere with other teams/apps.

Monitoring can also be implemented for each app/service to give a better observability for each component.

The API gateway approach makes communication between a client’s application and microservices straightforward. It’s opposed to client-to-microservices direct communication architecture, in which a client app makes requests directly to microservices. 

Since businesses need to use more than one microservice in their tech system, they have to handle multiple calls to microservice endpoints in the direct method. An intermediate level (gateway) can solve the complexity issue, providing each client with an API that best serves their requirements. 

Because microservices are decentralized, they interact with each other on the network level, using an inter-service communication protocol.

As you see more businesses replacing their legacy architectures with microservices, you may wonder if this is the right step for your company too. Use microservices for your business if:

To know more about microservices and their benefits for your business, check out Talon.One’s ebook, “The A to Z of Microservices Architecture.”