Microservices are the new rage among software developers today. It is seen to have a natural fitment with apps that run on Cloud and with Software-as-a-Service (Saas) apps.
The concept behind Microservices is simple. It is to develop services with single minded competency. The idea is to make service as the fundamental unit. This goes against the idea of building complex, heavy software monoliths. A software project usually starts off with addressing a few requirements and in later phases , more and code is written to address emerging requirements. This creates bulky software monoliths with little or no chance of reusability.
Microservices are anathema to these monolith structures. A microservice has its own unique simple process that is built to offer a single small service. The business problem is addressed by the orchestration of as many services needed. A large application can be built as a suite of services. This allows for multiple benefits.
The many benefits of microservices
Improves the stability of apps : By delinking services from each other as opposed to a monolith, it makes troubleshooting easier, faster and most importantly less necessary. The whole stability of a system using complex processes improves.
Reduces go-to-market time: In a competitive environment, faster launches are everything for the business. Microservices improve the time taken to test, debug and therefore shorten launch time considerably.
Higher Scalability : Individual services offered by Microservices can be scaled up( or down) rather than worrying about scalability of the entire monolith.
Greater developer flexibility : - Apps can be built with different parts being developed in different languages. It allows for a diverse environment.
Greater team flexibility : - Gone are the days when the entire company had to congregate for the  version testing because their work was irretrievable part of the monolith. Now it allows teams to focus on individual services and testing can be done with minimal coordination between teams.
Though the knowledge and appreciation of microservices has increased over time, there are still some queries that pop up.
What you need to know about Microservices but were always afraid to ask
- Aren't Microservices just another word for Service Oriented Architecture ?
It succeeds in delivering far higher speed than SOA in terms of development and testing. The secret is the independence of services over themselves and from each other. This is different from Service Oriented Architecture ( SOA ) which did not offer it to the degree. Unlike SOA, the speed of Microservices gives developers time to play and experiment with possibilities.
- Are they going to simplify enterprise app development fully?
An ill-designed system built on the microservice approach can cause problems to the network. These are called latency issues. This is when data packet transfer speed slows down considerably because of network issues.
- Is there a lack of flexibility in implementation?
Microservices are the best suited for the hybrid development environments. As mentioned previously, they allow for maintaining diversity in the development environment. They can work across the regular hardware as well as on Cloud and virtual infrastructures.
4.I understood that they arenâ't SOA, then are they the new API?
Application Programming Interfaces ( APIs as they are known) , specify the interaction of individual software components. Microservices don’t limit themselves to this degree of specification. They focus on delivering a specific service. Microservices are an architectural approach whereas APIs are a technical approach. Microservices are a mindset that underlies businesses by which they are made to address business concerns by developing an architecture of services. Whereas APIs are the platform for software professionals, especially developers.
- Aren’t they the best for every kind of app?
An evaluation of the fitment of the Microservice approach should be done basis business strategy and not technical strategy. No every application will find the suitability of this approach. A strategic roadmap is the first thing that needs to be laid out before even considering moving to a Microservices architecture.
These are some of the things that one needs to know and consider well before thinking of migrating to a Microservices approach. When designed and executed well, it can bring about a speedier development and faster company.
