SOJOURNERS

Pros And Cons Of Microservices Architecture

“Microservices Architecture has become increasingly popular in recent years. It offers a number of advantages over traditional monolithic architectures, but it also has some drawbacks.”

AKG

The benefits of Microservices appear compelling enough to have persuaded some significant business giants, like Netflix, and Amazon, to adopt the approach. Although, Microservices may be a hot trend, but the architecture does have drawbacks. Following are some of the advantages and disadvantages of Microservices.

Pros Of Microservices

Implementing the microservice architecture simplifies the software development procedure. It also makes it easier to maintain the software in the long run. Here are some of the pros of using microservice architecture:

Lower Costs And Increased Efficiency

Microservices are typically simpler and more efficient than monolithic applications, which can result in lower costs overall. In addition, because microservices are self-contained, they don’t require the same level of coordination and communication that is needed for monolithic applications. By allowing organizations to use the right technology for the task at hand, microservices can improve efficiency and a reduction in the number of errors. For example, you might choose a different technology stack for each microservice, which can lead to increased performance and scalability.

Scaling up becomes easier

In the microservices architecture each service is designed, developed, and deployed independently. So, if one part of the software needs to be updated, we can update and use the microservice that handles that functionality.

Here in the entire system need not be taken down and deployed again. This enables a seamless update process and functioning of the software system.

Leads to Improved Fault Tolerance

Large applications that have multiple services installed within have better fault tolerance towards the failure of any one module.

Applications within microservices could continue working even if one service fails. This is because of the loose coupling between the services. Failure of one microservice does not affect the working of others.

Ease of understanding of the codebase of the software system

As one module has one responsibility encapsulated within, it becomes easier to understand the code base for that module.

It is easier to design a module keeping in mind the functionality of only that module. Understanding the specific functionality of each module is relatively more straightforward.

Gives you scope for experimenting with different technologies

Developers have the flexibility to experiment with different technologies while creating various services.

There are lesser technology dependencies between the modules. Rolling back to the previous iterations is less complicated.

Independent Deployment of each module

Since microservices are separate modules, they can be deployed independently in any application. If any module is modified, then the entire application need not be rebuilt and deployed.

Smaller codebases mean easier and quicker deployment. This is because there are lesser dependencies to take care of within the services.

Independent deployment of individual services also makes continuous deployment possible. Thus ensuring that the software stays updated for users at all times.

Faster Time to Market

Microservices can also help organizations get their products to market faster. By breaking an application down into smaller, more manageable pieces, it’s often possible to get a product to market more quickly than if a monolithic approach was used.

Cons of Microservices

As with any system, microservices have certain drawbacks as well. The cons are similar to the ones that are faced with distributed systems. The following are a few of the issues faced while adopting this architecture:

Increased Complexity of Communication Between the Services

Splitting an application into multiple smaller modules increases the communication overhead. Developers have to be extra cautious while handling requests between the different modules.

The way different systems communicate could vary, and there might be a need for an interpreter. This can increase the complexity of deploying the entire system at once.

Requires More Resources

With an increasing number of microservices, the resources needed to implement them increases as well.

Multiple databases and logs would need to be maintained. Transaction management between the services would increase the overhead of maintaining the records.

Increased Network Traffic

Since microservices are designed to be self-contained, they rely heavily on the network to communicate with each other. This can result in slower response times (network latency) and increased network traffic. In addition, it can be difficult to track down errors that occur when multiple microservices are communicating with each other.

Dependency On DevOps

In order to be successful with Microservices, organizations need to have a strong DevOps team in place. This is due to the fact DevOps is responsible for deploying and managing microservices. Without a good DevOps team, it can be difficult to successfully implement and manage a microservice-based application.

Global Testing and Debugging is Difficult

Testing a monolithic application is considerably simpler as compared to a microservice-based software. We just need to launch our app and ensure and test its connectivity with the underlying database.

With microservices-based applications, each service needs to be launched and tested individually first. Then the application as a whole needs to be tested again, once all the services are launched.

Not Practical for Small Applications

Microservices architecture is a good option for bigger applications. But, for smaller apps, it will probably be more time consuming and challenging to implement.

Relatively Complex Deployment

The deployment could be a complicated and challenging procedure. It would need coordination between multiple services during deployment. It would not be as simple as deploying a WAR file in a container.

Final Thoughts

All in all, we have a clear picture of Microservices. Microservices have clear advantages over monolithic systems. However, they do have some cons as well. The disadvantages are mainly based on how you are using it.

Microservices are apt for large applications that have heavy dependencies. Monolithic systems are still a better option for smaller, less complex, and easy to debug applications. The bottom-line, Microservices is the new development Methodology. And it is something every developer must keep in mind when designing the application architecture.

🅐🅚🅖

Interested in Management, Design or Technology Consulting, contact anil.kg.26@gmail.com
Get updates and news on our social channels!

LATEST POSTS

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.