Microservices are a collection of small, distributed and independent services. Each of these services, or more simply applications, fulfills a specific function and communicates with other services via well-defined interfaces (APIs). This modularity makes it possible to develop, test and scale individual services independently of each other.
Areas of application for microservices
Microservices are particularly suitable for cloud-based applications where flexibility and scalability are paramount.
They are particularly popular in environments with several development teams, as they make it much easier to introduce new software. A team simply creates a new application and then also has ongoing ownership of that app.
Many well-known companies, including Netflix and Spotify, use microservices to manage their huge, complex applications.
Microservices vs. monolith
While a system in microservice architecture can be divided into any number of individual applications, a monolith is the exact opposite. Whereas monolithic architectures are often easier and faster to develop, microservices have their own advantages.
When are microservices the better choice?
Does a company need to react quickly to market changes? No problem with microservices. Whether scaling or introducing new technology: as all services operate separately from each other, you can focus only on the affected service when making adjustments. It is also possible to use different technology stacks and programming languages within one application.
Limits of monolithic architectures
Monoliths often reach their limits when it comes to scaling and quickly adapting to new requirements. In the case of large, complex applications, the maintenance of a monolith can also be very time-consuming.
Advantages of microservices
As each service is independent, teams can work on different services in parallel, which significantly reduces development time.
In the event of increased demand, a specific microservice that requires more resources can also be scaled independently of the others.
An application is not tied to one technology. While one part of the application runs under Java, the other works on the basis of PHP. If you want to introduce a third, fourth or fifth language, this is not a problem. This is perhaps the biggest advantage, especially when testing new trends.
Conclusion
If you value agility, scalability and rapid adaptability, microservices are the right choice.
However, numerous services also entail increased administrative effort. A microservice architecture often runs under Kubernetes, which requires increased manpower. A dedicated cloud also needs to be constantly monitored and secured. Nevertheless, setting up such an environment can prove worthwhile once the overall complexity of the application reaches a certain level.
