Maximizing Efficiency: Microservices for Software Development

Microservices Architecture is a major change that requires a company to make changes in many areas. The major changes are:

1. Organizational Culture Changes
2. Architectural Changes
3. Operational Changes
4. Governance Changes

Businesses are implementing cutting-edge technologies like analytics, social media, IoT, and smart embedded devices to revolutionize internal workflows, value propositions, and consumer interactions.

Microservices are building blocks that enable modern distributed enterprise systems. They also become an enabler in the journey of digital transformation. Microservices provide enterprises with the agility, reliability and maintainability they need to achieve their digital transformation.

It assists the enterprise to achieve the following factors.

1. Focus on business need
2. With agility, businesses can quickly introduce new digital products and enhancements to the market.
3. Customer experience enhancement
4. If a service goes down, customers will be unable to access the services functionality, but can still use the rest of the system.
5. Scalability: The system can be configured for auto-scale up/out and, during off-peak times, it can return to its default configuration, resulting in an improved customer experience and cost savings for the customer
6. Can be developed and deployed independently from other services

Numerous articles and blogs exist on Microservices, good service design, and a solid supporting backbone. This section summarizes when Microservices should be used and when they shouldnt.

Characteristics Of Microservices

Microservices are an architectural style in which software applications or systems are made up of one or several independent services.

Its not a platform, framework or product. It is a way to build large distributed systems. Microservices can be deployed in a loosely coupled manner.

Microservices are developed using any programming language. Each microservice runs in its own process, and communicates with lightweight mechanisms such as HTTP resource APIs like REST.

Each Microservice focuses on one task, and this one task represents small business capabilities. Microservices are not limited by any criteria. These services are the ones that break down an application into smaller parts.

This allows you to scale parts of an application rather than the whole. The diagram below shows the main characteristics of microservices, which are classified.

1. Businesses can benefit from a variety of business opportunities.
2. Technology
3. Process
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Businesses can benefit from a variety of business opportunities.

1. Service independent: Microservices can be changed independently of other services, as they are autonomous.
2. Service is easily upgradeable and replaceable. The service is owned by a single entity. Decomposition must be done with a fine enough granularity to achieve self-containment.

Technology

1. Decentralized: Microservices architecture style decentralizes architectures and patterns, languages and standards, component & Data responsibility, governance, as well as the standardization of data.
2. Microservices are not monolithic applications. If any of them fails, the entire application will not be affected.
3. Polyglot: The microservices architecture is compatible with multiple technologies. To be more specific, it supports the advanced technology most suitable for the task.
4. Single Responsibility: The service is responsible for a specific business activity, and delivers the entire business logic required to complete the activity.
5. Scalability: Microservices are scalable and can be deployed independently.
6. Decoupled Microservices should implement only one atomic business functionality. This reduces the dependency on other services.

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Process

1. Implementation Agnostic : The implementation should be deployable into any of the containers and support a variety of platforms and technologies.
2. Blackbox: Microservices shall be black boxes (no details of the internal service will be visible outside the boundary of services) for any other components/systems using/invoking them.
3. Bounded context: This is a crucial attribute of microservices. Other services dont need to be aware of the underlying architecture or implementation of Microservices.
4. It is easier to experiment with and innovate when new versions of small independent services are deployed.
5. Quality: Better scaling, optimization, and composition.

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1. End-to-End ownership: This is an important cultural shift within the project team. The development team is responsible for maintaining each project that uses Microservices Architecture, as opposed to the usual development practice of handing the central project over to support and maintenance.
2. Independent Governance: A single team is responsible for the entire lifecycle of Microservices. This team is responsible for all aspects of Microservices, including governance. Governance is decentralized.
3. The smaller codebases of Microservices are easier to understand for modern developers, making deployments and changes easier.

Monolithic vs Microservices

Microservices Architecture is built on SOA vision which is the decomposition and loose coupling of software systems.

Microservices are based on SOA concepts such service contracts, business alignment, and dependency minimization. Each Microservice is equipped with its own data storage and central governance. Microservices are scalable, and allow for quick implementation of changes.

Microservices have become one of the most popular architectures over the past few years because of these advantages.

Microservices use continuous integration (CI), continuous delivery (CD), and several critical components which were not as prevalent in Monolithic systems.

1. Polyglot programming, persistence and polyglot programming.
2. Containers are immutable virtual machines.

When To Use Microservices

These are the main reasons why enterprises use Microservices.

1. Cloud-based system development. When enterprises decide to migrate from monolithic applications to cloud-based applications, microservices is preferred.
2. To develop highly distributed systems
3. If the primary business of an enterprise is based on extremely high volumes of transactions
4. If you want the functionality to be available at all extreme times, deploy it in multiple redundant providers. If the functionality is to be highly available.
5. Solutions that integrate business capabilities from disparate systems or programming models
6. Aligning IT and business functionality
7. Business agility and technology agility
8. Get Better ROI
9. Business software that is developed incrementally (agile) and continuously

When To Avoid Microservices

These are the main factors that negate the use of Microservices.

1. Monolithic, centralized architectures make sense in certain scenarios (for simple, small or low availability application development).
2. Applications where consistency is a high priority.
3. Small businesses with homogeneous networks and technologies confined to a single vendor.
4. Scenarios in which standards-based integration is not required. Simple data exchange between external systems and applications could be the solution.
5. If there are no frequent releases due to changing business requirements
6. Cloud-based development is not available
7. Re-Architecting data platforms. Microservices are not microservices if they rely on a system of records (Mainframes, Oracle databases, SAP systems, etc.).
8. Project teams are required to take ownership in scenarios where there is no tangible product.
9. Long-term commitments to a product or technical stack, as well as a cultural shift within the enterprise are not required.

Benefits of Microservices

Microservices can be built using open-source and lightweight framework technologies. It allows for a quick time to market.

1. Larger applications are not affected by a failure of one module.
2. Supports Continuous Delivery. Easy addition of new functionality. Independent development teams
3. It eliminates the need to commit long-term to a specific technology stack. Instead, assistant developers can develop code components using any technology they feel is best for the business function. If performance is needed, different parts of the system can use a different technology stack. One of the key benefits of Microservices is their ability to support heterogeneous technology or polyglot programs.
4. The developer perspective makes it easier to understand a services functionality for new developers
5. The smaller codebases allow developers to focus on their product and develop a stronger empathy with their users, leading them to be more motivated and clear in their work.
6. Easy deployment, a part of the system could be moved to another machine or cloud while the rest of the service can remain on premises

The adoption of microservices is exploding due to its benefits, particularly when developing complex software. In my blog "To Microservice Or Not To Microservice? Is Not The Issue", I discussed in detail how to decide if you need microservices for your organization.

MarketsandMarkets Research recently found that cloud microservices increased from $683 in 2018 to $1 880 in 2023, with a Compound annual Growth Rate (CAGR of 22.4%). These numbers show a preference for a microservices architecture over a monolith. The adoption of microservices is great because it allows developers to make changes in real time.

It is very helpful for adding new features to products. It does not take much time to build a complete overhaul. The system is not affected by testing features or making changes.

This allows services to be released faster and the release cycle to be shortened.

The rise of microservices is not without its challenges. While the advantages, such as increased agility, faster delivery and cost-effectiveness, are behind the increase in numbers, this isnt a simple task.

Microservices can be challenging, but if they are not managed properly, the costs could end up being high.

Well look at some of the biggest challenges in adopting a microservices architecture so you can be prepared.

Read More: Select the right enterprise e-commerce solution that suits your business

Microservice adoption: challenges and opportunities

1. Design Complexity: When developing applications using a microservices-based architecture, it is essential that the services communicate seamlessly with one another to ensure business operations. Microservices are loosely coupled services and synchronization can be difficult. This challenge must be addressed by architects from the beginning. Microservice design can be daunting without the right logic. Data is meaningless. To achieve seamless integration, novice microservice architecture should consider the number and framework of microservices. Understanding the relationship between each microservice, and its optimal boundaries is key to overcoming future design challenges. It can be difficult and time-consuming to break down business functionality into specific domains if these two concepts are not clear.
   
2. Achieving Data Consistency: Traditional techniques for data management and handling may not be feasible in an architecture that combines many services. Data in microservices is governed by the principle that each service handles its own data. This can lead to duplication of data between services. Due to the independent handling of data, redundancy can be a problem. If multiple microservices are tied to the same table in a database, any change in the schema will affect other microservices due to the different data storage solutions. It can be difficult to maintain data consistency between services when multiple microservices are tied to the same database table.
   
3. Security: Data can be distributed and deployed across multiple cloud environments. This results in a significantly larger attack surface.Due to the absence of visibility and control over application components in this situation, it becomes challenging to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of user data. Access controls and secure authentication of individual services are another challenge. As microservices communicate using different infrastructure layers, testing vulnerabilities across services is more difficult.
   
4. Operational Complexity: The magnitude of services makes it difficult to manage them in a microservices application. To automate provisioning and do so in a secure and resilient manner, it is necessary to use sophisticated and specialized tools. The operations will vary because each microservices group uses its own technology and deploys its service in a unique way. The result is that traditional application techniques become redundant and no longer work. It is difficult to achieve seamless operations without the right coordination of services. This requires expertise. Youre faced with a difficult task when you add the sudden spikes of application usage. A failure of one component can have a cascading impact on the entire system. To overcome operational challenges and complexities, a good API management strategy combined with a solid message infrastructure and monitoring technique is essential.
   
5. Microservices require expertise: Your rapid development and architect teams are vital to the success of microservices. The knowledge and abilities of your architect and development teams can make or ruin the transition to microservices. The vastness of distributed services makes it difficult to maintain optimal operation of microservices. The team must also be comfortable with a DevOps-based culture. The teams should be able handle complexity efficiently, even with the best microservice platforms and programming language. All contributors should have a basic understanding of concepts such as functional interfaces and CQRS.
   
6. Maintenance: Maintenance involves a continuous activity that ensures microservices are performing to their full potential. If servers are not maintained, they can be put at risk. Even if a single service fails, it could disrupt the entire system. Developers must be constantly vigilant to ensure that services are available. Also, they must be able to identify failure modes and scenarios. They should also have backups and an auto-recovery system ready. Backups are better than a firefighting outage. The use of strict protocols for checking and designing help to reduce the risks of data loss, breaches of security, and other unwanted circumstances that could hamper the operation of the microservice.
   
7. Complex team communication: Monolithic applications help in adequate communications, but microservices do the opposite. Microservices make it difficult to maintain effective team communication. Communication complexity increases as the number of Microservices grows. To overcome the challenges of poor team communication, effective communication and proper documentation is a necessity.
   
8. Complex communication systems: A microservice infrastructure, like teams, must communicate effectively to function smoothly. Communication between systems becomes extremely complex due to the way microservices and different tech stacks are configured. Communication is key to achieving perfect interoperability and dependencies. This can be difficult to achieve. Maintaining communication is just as important as achieving communication. A successful microservice relies on effective microservice communication.
   
   You must be wondering if it is worth the effort to make the switch. In the last few years there has been a lot of debate about it, with both sides explaining their reasons for and against microservices. Microservices have many benefits, particularly as software becomes more complex and the time to market for targeted products continues to decrease. Many organizations are able to see its benefits. To achieve the adoption you will need experts in the team, and to think about the challenges listed above. Switching from monolithic apps can be beneficial to your business, depending on the feasibility and business case. We help organizations on their microservice adoption journey.
   

What is a Microservices architecture?

Youre probably now convinced that microservices can offer unique advantages to traditional architectures, and you have started considering this approach for your next projects.

Next question is, "How do you start?" and "Is there any standard set of guidelines that I can use to build a microservices-based architecture?"

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is "No".

It may not sound promising, but there are some themes that many organizations who have adopted microservices architectural designs have used and have found success with.

Below, I will discuss some of these common themes.

1.How To Decompose

To make our work easier, we could define services that correspond to business capabilities. Business capabilities are things that a company does to add value to their end users.

To identify business capabilities and services, you need to have a good understanding of your business. The business capabilities of an online shopping app might include:

1. Product Catalog Management
2. Inventory Management
3. Order Management
4. Delivery Management
5. User Management
6. Product Recommendations
7. Product Reviews Management

After identifying the business capabilities, services can be developed to match each capability.

The team that owns each service becomes an expert on the technology and domain that is best suited to that service.

This leads to API boundaries that are more stable and teams with more stability.

2. Building and Deploying

These small services can then be developed by a small team using the technology that is best suited to each of their purposes.

You may, for example, choose to develop a User Service using Java and a MySQL database or a Product Recommendation Service using Scala/Spark.

Once created, CI/CD Pipelines can be configured with any of the CI Servers (Jenkins TeamCity Go, etc.) that are readily available.

to deploy these services independently to various environments and execute automated test cases.

3. Individual Services: Design them Carefully

Consider carefully what information will be displayed, how the service will be interacted with, etc.

It is important to keep any implementation and complexity details hidden and only reveal what the clients need. It is very difficult to modify a service if unnecessary details are revealed.

This is because it will take a lot of time to identify who relies on which parts. Deploying the service independently also limits flexibility.

4. Decentralize things

Some organizations have had success with microservices. They have adopted a model in which the teams that build the services are responsible for everything relating to the service.

They develop, deploy and maintain it. There is no separate maintenance or support team.

A similar approach is to use an internal open-source model. This approach allows the software developer to work on the feature and submit the PR themselves, instead of waiting on the service owner or product owners.

This model will only work if it has the correct technical documentation, along with the setup instructions and guidance to each service.

This approach has the hidden benefit of keeping developers focused on high-quality code, as they know others will be reviewing it.

Decentralization can also be achieved through certain architectural patterns. You might, for example, have an architecture in which a collection of services communicates via a central messaging bus.

5. Deploy

Consumer Driven Contracts are important for APIs that you depend on. Its important to do this so that any changes made in the API wont affect your API.

Consumer Driven Contracts capture the expectations of each client in a contract. These contracts are then shared with the providers so they can gain an understanding of the obligations that each client has.

Before the API can be changed, Consumer Driven Contracts have to pass. The provider can also know which services depend on the API and how many services are dependent on it.

There are two models that can be used to deploy independent microservices.

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Conclusion

This article describes the situations in which Microservices should be used and when they shouldnt. It is recommended to use Microservices at the enterprise level.

Microservices adoption by enterprises reduces time to market and creates a bridge between business and IT. Microservices provide interoperability, flexibility and a bridge between Business and IT for the enterprise.

Microservices are software development services that model and expose the logic of a functional system.

They can be accessed by other applications on demand. Microservices are recommended with caution when performance, availability and security are important.

For enterprises to achieve success with Microservices they must first create a well-designed app according to platform standards.

They can then refactor this application into Microservices if necessary in order to meet their business needs. With the right tools, people and processes, Microservices are able to deliver faster development, deployment and maintenance.

They also improve scalability and can be free from long-term commitments.

Last but not least, dont create too many microservices. Each Microservice requires multiple resources. Divide larger services only if you need to scale, manage lifecycles, or handle data.

Microservices that are too small will transfer complexity from Microservices to the integration task. Avoid sharing Microservices across systems.

The Enterprise IT Architecture team will decide when to use Microservices, and when to avoid them based on the IT strategy assessment.

References

1. 🔗 Google scholar
2. 🔗 Wikipedia
3. 🔗 NyTimes