Microservices have become a hot topic in software development this year. As applications have been in use for longer and longer periods, they have become complex in structure and difficult to manage. Traditional development models are written by a single team, in a single structure of the code. As your business grows, users increase, additional features are requested, and the number of developers working on the project increases.
As rapidly-changing technology becomes the norm, developers are beginning to, instead, utilize a microservices architecture in which applications are developed as smaller collections of services. When using a microservices model, functionality is broken up into multiple, separate modules that individually separate specific tasks or features. The modules communicate with each other through application programming interfaces, or APIs. With business and application growth, the microservices model makes it much easier to develop new features and maintain existing code within small environments and with larger teams.
Each function is housed within a separate module and are built to align with business needs and capabilities. Treating each separate function as a seemingly separate application allows for decidedly independent services that can be easily updated without disrupting other functions. There are many additional advantages to microservices:
Advantages of a Microservices Development Model:
- Easier to build: the very word “micro” implies that the development is being done on a smaller scale. Rather than trying to fit various functions into an application, each is created separately and synced together through adjoining processes. This can make build time less complicated and much quicker.
- Simpler updates: as functions are separate, work on a particular function is able to be done separately without impacting the work of other simultaneous development occurring within the application
- Scalability: as the project grows and additional developers join the team, work on the overall application can easily be split up based on experience or requirements. Developers won’t have to worry as much about their impact on other areas of the application when updating, testing, and scaling their particular project.
- More affordable: adding new features does not entail redoing the entire application and process. Updates often require fewer developers, quicker development and testing speed, and thus less cost.
- Easier issue location: if one particular function fails, it is easier to locate the potential bug or problem within the bode. In addition, all other systems will likely continue to operate as normal potentially still allowing continuous use of the application while the disruption is being patched.
- Alignment of business and development teams: with a larger application, software development teams are often grouped by the particular microservice they are working on. Having a smaller development group allows both the business and development team to focus on that function’s user experience and continuously improve to align with business and user goals.
As technology and innovation continues to occur at break-neck pace, it can disrupt your current software model. By utilizing a microservice architecture, your business can respond and adapt quicker by replacing or upgrading services or systems without having to start on an entirely new software application. In a sense, by developing microservices now, you are working to “future-proof” and insure your software development project is a success for years to come.
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