In the age of technology, businesses are experiencing a digital renaissance. Customers are interacting with companies through mobile devices and social media platforms more than ever, and they expect a higher level of service. This has forced businesses to re-evaluate how they operate to meet customer demands. One such way companies are changing the way they work is by adopting the benefits of microservices.
The question is, why are microservices so helpful to modern enterprises? What benefits do corporations receive from using this architectural style?
Here's 5 key things to know about the benefits of microsevices:
Microservices application architecture involves breaking a monolithic application into component functions or services. After identifying the individual services, developers refactor the monolith so that each service runs autonomously as a separate "microservice." Then, they loosely connect these microservices via APIs to form a more extensive microservices-based application.
The resulting microservices-based application offers a pluggable architectural style. This style enables fast, cost-efficient upgrades, making it easier and less expensive to scale one part of the application. Importantly, you can do this without affecting the rest of the application.
Developers usually run each microservice in a container on a cloud-based service such as Amazon AWS. Then they use container orchestration tools like Kubernetes to efficiently allocate processing power and other resources to the containers as required.
For a more detailed overview of microservices, check out our DreamFactory guide, "What Are Microservices?"
Below we'll explore seven key benefits of microservices with illustrations and examples:
Scalability is one of the most significant benefits of microservices. In a monolithic application, increases in user traffic affect all aspects of the app. For example, if website visitors purchase more products on an eCommerce site, the increased load might cause the entire application to crash. This is because all components of the monolith share the same server resources, so the front-end, back-end, database, and other components become overloaded simultaneously.
In a microservices application, on the other hand, each service has its dedicated resources. So if traffic to the front-end website increases, only the front-end services will use more resources. The database, for example, won't be affected since it runs as a separate service with independent resources. This improved scalability helps prevent outages and ensures that users always have a positive experience.
An orchestration tool like Kubernetes can improve scalability by dynamically allocating resources to services as needed. So if traffic to the front-end website increases, Kubernetes will automatically provision more resources to that service. But if traffic decreases, it will de-provision resources accordingly. This ensures that services only use the resources they need, which helps keep costs down.
Scalability also makes deploying new features and updates easier without taking the whole system offline. With a monolithic application, even a tiny change can require the entire system to be taken down while the new code is deployed. But with a microservices architecture, only the affected service needs to be taken offline for changes or updates to be made.
This can significantly reduce the time and cost of deployments and minimize the risk of errors or downtime.
Microservices offer a clear advantage for companies that expect to experience rapid growth.
Netflix offers an excellent example of using microservices to overcome scaling challenges. In late 2008, Netflix experienced a three-day service failure caused by increasing server demands. After struggling to rise to these demands, Netflix decided to refactor its monolithic application into a horizontally-scalable, distributed system of microservices running on Amazon AWS cloud servers.
As Yuri Izrailevsky, the vice president of cloud and platform engineering at Netflix, states:
"We realized that we had to move away from vertically scaled single points of failure, like relational databases in our datacenter, towards highly reliable, horizontally scalable, distributed systems in the cloud."
The switch to microservices came with many benefits, including:
Here's a map of the Netflix microservices architecture:
With a microservices architecture, the failure of one service is less likely to negatively impact other parts of the application because each microservice runs autonomously from the others. Nevertheless, large distributed microservices architectures tend to have many dependencies, so developers must protect the application from a dependency failure-related shutdown. According to InfoQ, "on a high volume website, a single back-end dependency becoming latent can cause all application resources to become saturated in a matter of seconds (see image)."
Fortunately, the benefits of microservices architecture allow developers to prevent cascading failures with features like circuit breakers, which averts server resource depletion if a calling service has to remain on hold for a failed service that never responds.
Avoid Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs) between microservices if possible – they cause cascading failures. If you refactor an operation into a separate service, redesign the containing operation to be fully asynchronous. Leverage the message bus to insulate services from one another so that temporary failures, redeploys, or downtime in one service don't guarantee failures in another.
Finally, you can build fault-tolerant microservices using Hystrix, an open-source solution that Netflix created to stop cascading failure and bolster the resilience of its infrastructure. According to Netflix, "Hystrix is a latency and fault tolerance library designed to isolate access points to remote systems, services, and 3rd party libraries, stop cascading failure and enable resilience in complex distributed systems where failure is inevitable."
When creating a microservices-based application, developers can connect microservices programmed in any language. They can also connect microservices running on any platform. This offers more flexibility to use the programming languages and technologies that best fit the project's needs and your team's skill sets.
By becoming programming language agnostic, you can quickly adopt new technologies as they emerge and evolve. You're no longer tethered to a single technology stack because you can use the best tool for each job. For example, if you need to develop a data-intensive microservice, you can use Java and the Spring framework. But if you need to create an event-driven microservice, you might choose Node.js.
The benefits of technology-agnostic microservices include:
One of the most significant benefits of microservices is that it enables businesses to take a more granular approach to data security. Since each service is responsible for a specific task, it's easier to implement security measures at the service level. This approach is far more secure than storing all data in a single monolithic database accessible by the entire application.
Additionally, compliance with various regulations is essential for success in today's business world. Regulations such as GDPR and HIPAA place strict requirements on how businesses must handle personal data. Microservices make it easy to audit data processing activities.
Most developers use secure APIs to connect microservices. A secure API safeguards the data it processes by making sure it's only accessible to specifically authorized applications, users, and servers.
Suppose your microservices are managing sensitive health, financial, or other kinds of confidential information. In that case, a secure API gives developers complete control over the data accessible to the larger application and those using it. This makes achieving compliance under HIPAA, GDPR, and other data security standards easier.
An iPaaS (Integration Platform as a Service) like DreamFactory can assist with the process of developing secure APIs to support a microservices architecture. DreamFactory's automatic API generation tools empower you to build and publish secure APIs in minutes.
The pluggability of a microservices application architecture allows for easier, faster application development and upgrades. Developers can quickly build or change a microservice, then plug it into the architecture with less risk of coding conflicts and service outages. Moreover, due to the independence of each microservice, teams don't have to worry about coding conflicts, and they don't have to wait for slower-moving projects before launching their part of the application.
Microservices also support the CI/CD/CD (Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, Continuous Deployment) development philosophy. This means you quickly deploy the core microservices of an application – as a minimum viable product (MVP) – and continuously update the product over time as you complete additional microservices. It also means that you can respond to security threats and add new technologies as they appear. The result for the user is a "future-proof" product constantly evolving.
As enterprises strive to become more agile, they're turning to microservices to increase their speed-to-market. A microservices application architecture supports the rapid delivery of software by allowing developers to work on small, independent pieces of an application. These pieces can be quickly deployed and tested without affecting the rest of the application.
The independence of each microservice also lends itself well to DevOps.
DevOps is a set of practices that streamlines the software development process by automating tasks and increasing communication and collaboration between developers and operations teams. Because microservices are independent of each other, they lend themselves well to automation.
A safe, isolated microservice environment allows developers to experiment without fear of breaking the production system. This helps to foster a culture of innovation and creativity.
Each team is responsible for one or more services in microservices application architecture. This structure supports the "two-pizza" development team philosophy.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos first coined the two-pizza rule. It states that a development team should be small enough to be fed by two pizzas. In other words, the group should be small enough that everyone can get to know each other and work together effectively.
This philosophy is in line with the Agile Manifesto, which advocates for "individuals and interactions over processes and tools."
With microservices, each team can work independently on its own service. They can move quickly and make decisions without having to coordinate with other groups. This increases efficiency and allows for more rapid innovation.
Like any architectural style, microservices are not a silver bullet. They come with their own set of challenges and potential drawbacks. By understanding these challenges, teams can make more informed decisions about whether this architectural style is the right fit for their project. Here are a few disadvantages you may run into with microservices:
Microservices offer many benefits, it's essential to understand these potential challenges before deciding to adopt this architecture. Proper planning, design, and management can help mitigate these disadvantages and ensure a successful implementation.
Implementing microservices can help you deliver features faster and improve scalability. However, several challenges need to be considered. Addressing these challenges head-on will help ensure successful implementation. Here are some common challenges that must be addressed:
Microservices can be complex to build and deploy. Here are some best practices for building and deploying microservices to avoid common pitfalls and get the most out of this architecture.
Now that you understand the key benefits of microservices application architecture, you might consider a microservices adoption strategy for your enterprise. If that's the case, you'll want an advanced iPaaS to integrate the microservices that comprise your application.
The DreamFactory iPaaS features a user-friendly visual interface for integrating the microservices that comprise microservices-based applications. With DreamFactory's automatic REST API generation tools, you can transform the time-consuming and labor-intensive task of building and publishing APIs into a point-and-click process that takes only minutes. Try a free hosted trial of DreamFactory now!
Microservices architecture involves breaking down a Monolithic application into smaller, autonomous services called microservices. Each microservice runs independently and communicates with others through APIs to form a cohesive application.
In a monolithic application, all components are interconnected and run as a single unit, sharing the same resources. Microservices, however, operate as separate entities with dedicated resources, allowing for independent scaling, development, and deployment.
Microservices allow each service to scale independently. If a specific service experiences high traffic, only that service’s resources need to be increased, leaving other parts of the application unaffected. Tools like Kubernetes can dynamically allocate resources based on demand.
Netflix transitioned from a monolithic to a microservices architecture after experiencing significant scaling issues. This move allowed them to handle increasing user demands efficiently by independently scaling different services, resulting in improved performance and reliability.
Microservices are designed to run independently. If one service fails, mechanisms like circuit breakers prevent the failure from cascading to other services. This isolation helps maintain the overall application’s stability and reliability.
Microservices architecture allows for implementing security measures at the service level. Each service can have its own security protocols, making it easier to protect sensitive data and comply with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA.
Microservices enable independent development and deployment of services. This means new features or updates can be rolled out quickly without waiting for the entire application to be ready, reducing time to market and enhancing responsiveness to user needs.
