Is it worth making the move to microservices?
While a microservice architecture holds out the promise to deliver responsive, scalable, and flexible service-based applications, many people remain skeptical. Is a microservice architecture distinctly different from other options like monoliths or SOAs? And if so, how is it beneficial?
It's critical to move beyond the skepticism to recognize the challenges, benefits, and value of a microservices architecture. While there is a path to success, building a microservice system can be intensive for newcomers. Technical managers, developers, and DevOps staff need to assess, plan, and design with care. Each microservice communicates with other services through a simple application programming interface (API).
A microservice architecture structures an application as a collection of services that are:
Simple, lightweight, and loosely-coupled
Independently updatable and deployable
Design-driven by business functions and workflows
Combinable and recombinable to support intricate processes
Easy to scale horizontally
Owned by a small team
Microservice architectures continue to grow in popularity, gaining prominence with more development teams as they overcome challenges and reap substantial rewards. This white paper explores microservices and draws a contrast with conventional monolithic applications. We’ll look in-depth at the benefits and challenges of microservices design, development, and deployment. The goal is to provide enterprise leaders and development teams guidance on evaluating and determining when leveraging microservices is the right approach for their organization.