Monolithic Vs. Microservice Architecture

For example, The Facebook platform design servers as a notable illustration of monolithic architecture in practical applications. When Facebook first launched as a monolithic application, all its features- including user profiles, posts, chats, and news feeds- were tightly incorporated into a single codebase and implemented as a single application.

Facebook started with a monolithic design but eventually switched to a more flexible architecture, including service-oriented architecture and microservice, as the platform increased in scale and scope. Facebook contain numerous interconnected services that provide the platform’s functionality.

Benefits of Monolithic Architecture :

Even though a few enterprises and companies worldwide have moved away from this architecture, numerous benefits could still be associated with it. Some of the most critical ones are:

Straightforwardness:

Monolithic architecture is straightforward to develop and maintain work with a single codebase.

Performance:

With microservices, one API may frequently do the same task as several APIs in a centralised codebase and source.

Ease of changes:

With monolithic architecture, it is easy to make changes and add new landscapes, improving the development series.

Ease to test:

Due to a single codebase in a monolithic application, it may be easy to test the entire system.

Ease to solve:

It has one place in the codebase, so it is easy to find a problem or debug and solve it.

Disadvantages of Monolithic Architecture:

As mentioned, there are a few demerits (or limitations) due to which some prominent companies have migrated from monolithic to other forms of architecture. These demerits are as follows:

Scaling up:

If one system needs more resources, that needs to be a scale-up process, which is challenging for monolithic architecture.

Dependability:

Single error in any part of the module can affect the entire system.

Technology choice limitation:

Adding new technology or languages to develop one application using a single codebase technology is challenging.

Growth maintenance challenge:

To maintain and develop a monolithic database becomes more complex and time-consuming as the program expands.

Dependency of deployment:

When the entire application is deployed as a unified unit, deploying upgrades or debug covers may cause the whole system to fail.

Now, let’s move on to the next part and discuss the meaning and importance of microservice architecture.

Microservice Architecture:

Microservice architecture is a commonly new approach for software developers. A fundamental purpose behind the microservice architecture is to develop, deploy, and independent scale-up of breakable applications in loosely coupled services.

The “Microservice” architecture is used in the development and implementation of business-oriented APIs employing modular services or loosely coupled subsystems

and components. Instead of using a single database, like one used by a monolithic programme, each microservice has its own database. Every microservice runs independently of other services. They are each capable of development and organisation.

Each service has a mutually exclusive database to maintain loose coupling and distinct data management. Microservices interact with one another via well-classified APIs, utilising platforms like RabbitMQ or Kafka, or HTTP protocols. Microservice allows for the demand base scaling of each service, enhancing performance and error tolerance. Due to the multiple uses of technologies, frameworks, and programming languages in microservices development, the team can choose the ideal tool for individual service.

Advantages of Microservice Architecture:

Here are a few factors due to which this architecture form has become quite popular among software companies:

Enable scalability:

Microservice provides effective resource utilisation by allowing autonomous scalability of each service.

Agility and flexibility:

Microservise allows developers the flexibility to work on multiple services at a time for the fastest development process and quick response changes.

Technology multiplicity:

Microservices enable the freedom to select the most appropriate technology stack for each service by encouraging novelty and the advantages of several technologies.

Defect separation:

If one microservice has a problem, the entire program may continue to run without being affected.

Scalability of the team:

Teams of developers may be set up around specific microservices, which enhance their autonomy, concentration, and specialisation.

Disadvantages of Microservice Architecture:

Microservice architecture has many advantages but drawbacks that businesses should consider before using. Here are a few typical drawbacks of microservices.

Increase difficulty:

Compared to monolithic systems, microservice introduces a higher level of complexity. It might be challenging to oversee many services, coordinate communication, and guarantee data consistency.

Distributed infrastructure difficulties:

Microservices depend on the network connection, which can cause delay and provide possible weak points. Distributed system difficulties are considered carefully while designing fault-tolerant and resilient systems.

Management overhead:

A distributed network with different services might be more challenging to administer and monitor, requiring more resources. Individual service rollout, scalability, and monitoring are within the authority of operations teams.

Data handling:

Since microservice may have a separate database, ensuring data consistency between services can be difficult and result in duplicate data. Implementing systems for synchronising data and preserving data security can be difficult.

The complexity of deployment:

Managing the dependencies of several services when deploying them might be challenging. It might be difficult to manage version compatibility and coordinate the deployment of many benefits.

It’s crucial to remember that with good architectural planning, execution, and management techniques, the drawbacks of microservices may be reduced. Before selecting a microservices system, the organisation must carefully evaluate its unique needs, resources, and abilities.

Best Practices for Building Microservices:

Here are some of the best tips to build a microservice platform gradually.

Single functionality principle:

Each microservice has single functionality, which allows for greater management and scalability.

Loose coupling:

Microservices should have loosely coupling to operate separately without relying too much on other services.It promotes flexibility to build updates or replacements of individual services.

API gateway:

As a single point of entry for requests from outside sources to the microservices, implement an API gateway. Authentication, routing, and other interdisciplinary issues are centralised as a result.

Event-driven architecture:

To support loose coupling and asynchronous processing, use event-driven communication between microservices. Different services can publish events and subscribe to them, enabling decoupled communication.

DevOps and continuous deployment:

Implement a continuous deployment strategy and use DevOps techniques. For each microservice, this guarantees periodic updates, automated testing, and easy deployment procedures.

Monitoring and logging:

For each microservice, implement reliable monitoring and logging systems. As a result, effective troubleshooting, performance enhancement, and general system health are made possible.

Adaptability and fault tolerance:

Create fault-tolerant, robust microservices. Use interrupters, retries, and fallbacks to manage errors and ensure accessibility to the system.

Documentation:

Maintain detailed and current documentation, including APIs, endpoints, and dependencies, for each microservice. This supports efforts for development, testing, and integration.

Monolithic Vs. Microservice Architecture:

Monolithic and microservice architecture are the two pillars of the software design world. The choice of architecture method depends upon the requirements and specific needs of the developer to develop an operating system (OS). In recent years, the microservice design has grown in favour as a replacement for monolithic architecture. With microservices, an application may be divided into smaller, loosely coupled services that can be autonomously created, deployed, and scaled. Microservice is advantageous for scalability and technology variety but can add complexity and operational expense.

Tips for Monolithic to Microservice Architecture Migration:

Transitioning from a monolithic to a microservice architecture might take time and effort. Here are some ideas to keep in mind while organising and carrying out migration;

Understand your monolith totally:

Before beginning the transfer procedure, understand your monolith system. Examine the organisation, functionalities, and dependencies. Determine the problems and areas that can profit from a microservice architecture.

Determine the service limits:

Determine apparent boundaries when separating monolith into smaller and autonomous services. Look for specialised business functions or domains that may be contained within a single microservice. To locate natural service boundaries that examine the relationship and patterns for communication among various components.

Begin briefly:

Choose a less complicated component from a monolithic codebase, and extract it to design a microservice to start the migration. With this strategy, you may learn and improve the migration procedure before undertaking essential application components. Starting with small help in risk management and guaranteeing the efficacy of the relocation approach.

Specific APIs and contracts:

Create well-classified contacts and APIs for inter-microservices communication. It encourages loose coupling and allows services to be developed and deployed independently.

Verify appropriate testing:

Implement specific testing techniques to ensure the capability and functionality of the system as well as individual microservices.

Practice DevOps:

●  Use DevOps concepts to monitor, deploy, and scale microservices automatically.

●  Make consistent use of the packaging and deployment of microservices across various environments using tools like Docker.

●  Implement continuous and continuous deployment (CI/CD) to speed up release time.

Alignment of organisation:

Make sure the structure and alignment of your development teams with the design and alignment of your development teams with microservices. Each team should understand its ownership and responsibility for specific microservices to encourage autonomy and fast iterations. To promote efficient knowledge sharing and encourage excellent teamwork and communication.

Here are some examples of companies that experienced benefits from the transition from monolithic to microservice architecture

Amazon Prime:

Amazon Prime is an organisation that switched from monoliths to microservices architecture. Recently on March 22, According to Software developer Marcin Kolny at Amazon Prime, their expenses were 90% cut by switching to a monolith design for the streaming of videos. It discovered that using pieces from Amazon Web Services increased costs and hampered the scale-up process.

The transition was driven by several things, including the requirement for agility, scalability, and quicker delivery processes that promoted the software. To decouple and run independently of each other, Amazon Prime first examined its monolith system and identified the functional areas that might be done so. They identified possible microservices and created service barriers based on the capabilities of the business. The monolithic system breaks down into smaller parts of Amazon Prime. They organised the system into logical sections, each charging a distinct functional area or business domain. Amazon Prime welcomed the chance to select the ideal technologies stack for every microservices as part of the shift. As a result, they could use the benefits from various factors according to the unique requirements of each service. Each team could create, examine, and deploy them without affecting others, allowing fast release cycles and lowering dependencies. With the microservice architecture, Amazon Prime’s developers acquired the freedom to work on individual services.

Amazon Prime used continuous integration and delivery (CD/CI) practices to simplify the inspection, integration, and deployment of microservices. As a result, they could deploy updates and new features while keeping a high-quality standard. To obtain visibility into the functionality and health of its microservices, Amazon Prime put in place a distributed architecture and established intense monitoring and logging methods. They also embraced DevOps practices to automate deployments, streamline operations, and guarantee system dependability.

eBay:

eBay is another ideal platform that switched from a monolithic to a microservices design. A notable architectural change was made to the well-known internet store eBay. Today, eBay has huge JAVA, a system working on over 1000 microservices. For instance, they developed different systems for user identification, product catalogue, bidding, and shipment.

Moreover, As a part of technological evolution, eBay has developed serverless architecture. It was using serverless architecture platforms such as AWS Lambda, eBay optimised resource distribution and scalability. Serverless architecture enables automatic scaling, as it automatically manages computing resources based on demand. This transition has enabled eBay to increase market demand and allow its users a seamless shopping experience.

Ultimately, rigorous planning, architectural redesign, and iterative implementation were required for Amazon Prime and eBay to shift from a monolith to a microservice architecture. The change gave them flexibility, scalability, and the capacity to develop and deploy new products faster. It is crucial to remember that switching to microservices is a complicated process that necessitates thorough consideration of the unique requirements and difficulties faced by the organisation.

Summary:

Building software applications using monolithic architecture has become popular due to its closely connected components and centralised design. It offers scalability, deployment, and maintenance issues with monolithic structures that may arise. As technology develops, new architectural types like microservices or serverless computing services answer these problems. Monolithic designs are sometimes preferred over other types of architecture, but ultimately it comes down to project goals, team skills, and scalability requirements.