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Microservices

▾ 2 MINUTE READ — CLOSE

Microservices are Built, Deployed and Managed Independently

Microservices are an architectural approach to software development based on building an application as a collection of small services. There is no standard definition for what amount of code constitutes a “small service.” But some experts say it’s about the size at which a team can query the service’s health with a single request that returns a “yes” or “no” answer. Similarly, a service is too big if it requires more than one team to manage it.

Each service has its own unique and well-defined role, runs in its own process and communicates via HTTP APIs or messaging. Each microservice can be deployed, upgraded, scaled and restarted independently of all the sibling services in the application. They are typically orchestrated by an automated system, making it possible to have frequent updates of live applications without affecting the end users.

Microservices Advantages

Microservices are an evolution of a service-oriented architecture (SOA) — and some would argue that microservices are just SOA rebranded to make it hip again. But really, cloud native microservices take the SOA concept to a new level. The difference now is that cloud infrastructure has finally caught up to the SOA concept, so that loosely-coupled services (aka microservices) are now feasible to implement and manage at scale.

By enabling small autonomous teams to develop, deploy and scale their respective services independently, microservices essentially parallelize development, thereby speeding up the production cycle exponentially.

Adoption of microservices is closely correlated with the use of DevOps, continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) and containers. Container-based — and open source — systems like Docker and Kubernetes are a very effective way to develop, deploy and manage microservices. Many mature and robust tools, platforms and other services already exist in the container space, rendering containerization a natural fit for microservices-based applications.

Microservices Disadvantages

Microservices have many advantages, but migrating away from a monolith introduces its own set of challenges. With a microservices architecture, service discovery, networking, testing and monitoring all become more complex and difficult, if not impossible, to manage following reliable older systems and practices. And the problem is amplified as the number of services grow. Tools that once seemed essential, such as logging, are now racking up huge bills that can send a microservices migration into negative ROI territory. Thus, there are many business and process decisions involved in transitioning to a microservices-based architecture.

In a true microservices approach, teams run only the exact small services they need, and nothing else. It’s a sleek setup, but these services are not aware of each other until you step in to orchestrate them. Until recently, this implementation and orchestration piece have been beyond the engineering reach of many smaller to mid-size organizations.

A Market Leap Forward for Microservices Offerings

Fortunately, a market leap forward is now happening with microservices. There is a virtual tech sector land rush on, with companies feverishly producing not just microservices themselves, but the platforms, tools and frameworks necessary for joining them seamlessly together.

At this early stage in the developing ecosystem around microservices, it can be difficult to gauge both best fit and ultimate longevity. Despite the abundant potential benefits, microservices are not the right solution for every project. A well-built monolithic architecture can scale just as well, and remains the best option, in many scenarios.

Still, there are many companies for which microservices are the best option, and well worth the immediate challenge.


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DevOps / Kubernetes / Microservices / Security / Contributed

Aporeto’s Vision for a Shared Orchestration and Security Platform

24 Aug 2017 2:00am, by Scott M. Fulton III

API Management / Cloud Native / Microservices

Why Microservices Succeed in App Integration Where Web Services Stumbled

22 Aug 2017 3:21pm, by Alex Handy

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7 Aug 2017 9:00am, by TC Currie

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19 Jul 2017 11:42am, by Joab Jackson

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18 Jul 2017 2:41pm, by Alex Williams and Scott M. Fulton III

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Decentralizing Your Microservices Organization

13 Jul 2017 6:00am, by Ronnie Mitra

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SAP: Microservices Drove the Need for Cloud Foundry

12 Jul 2017 3:00pm, by Scott M. Fulton III

Development / Microservices / Monitoring / Open Source

Open Source Leaders: Charity Majors’ Mission to Monitor Microservices

10 Jul 2017 6:00am, by Michelle Gienow

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28 Jun 2017 9:00am, by TC Currie

CI/CD / Containers / Development / Kubernetes / Microservices

CircleCI Containerizes Build, Test and Deploy Services as Separate Components

26 Jun 2017 9:00am, by Susan Hall

Cloud Native / Containers / Microservices

Effective Microservices Architecture with Event-Driven Design

22 Jun 2017 2:00am, by Jennifer Riggins

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Stitch Sews Together Third-Party Backend Services for MongoDB

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Create the Next-Generation Cloud Management Platform with Model-Driven Service Orchestration

9 Jun 2017 9:00am, by Nati Shalom

Microservices / Serverless

Five Tips on Building Serverless Teams in an Enterprise

9 Jun 2017 1:00am, by Mark Boyd

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FPGAs and the New Era of Cloud-based ‘Hardware Microservices’

8 Jun 2017 6:00am, by Mary Branscombe

CI/CD / Cloud Native / Culture / DevOps / Edge / IoT / Kubernetes / Microservices

What Oracle Is Developing with Its Hyperscale Cloud

7 Jun 2017 3:00pm, by Alex Williams

CI/CD / Development / DevOps / Microservices / Sponsored / Contributed

The Many Problems with Jenkins and Continuous Delivery

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