What are Microservices ?

Unais Yousha Siddiqui
Bazaar Engineering
Published in
3 min readJan 28, 2023

Microservices is an architectural style that structures an application as a collection of small, independently deployable services. Each service runs a unique process and communicates with other services through a lightweight mechanism, typically an HTTP-based API.

The concept of microservices has been around for a while, but it has gained popularity in recent years due to the rise of cloud computing and containerization. The use of microservices allows for faster development, easier maintenance, and greater scalability.

Differences between Microservice and Monolithic pattern.

Monolith vs Microservice

One of the key benefits of microservices is that it allows for faster development. Instead of having a monolithic codebase that is difficult to modify, microservices allows for small, independent teams to work on different parts of the application simultaneously. This allows for faster development, as teams can work on their own services without having to worry about the impact on the rest of the application.

Microservices also allows for easier maintenance. With a monolithic application, a small change in one part of the codebase can have a ripple effect throughout the entire application. With microservices, changes can be made to a single service without having to worry about the impact on the rest of the application. This also allows for easier testing, as each service can be tested independently.

Another benefit of microservices is greater scalability. With a monolithic application, it can be difficult to scale specific parts of the application without scaling the entire application. Microservices allows for each service to be scaled independently, so that resources can be allocated where they are needed most. This also allows for greater fault tolerance, as a failure in one service will not bring down the entire application.

Industry Examples

Netflix’s microservices architecture is composed of over 1000 microservices, each responsible for a specific aspect of the service. For example, there are separate services for handling user authentication, video playback, and recommendation algorithms. This allows Netflix to update and improve each service independently, without affecting the rest of the system.

An Example of Netflix Microservices

Another example is ebay, which has been using microservices architecture for a long time to handle their large user base and diverse product offerings. They have broken down their monolithic architecture into small microservices, which are loosely coupled and can be easily updated and scaled as per the need. This allows them to handle a large number of concurrent users and transactions without any issues.

However, it’s important to note that microservices are not the best fit for every application. They are best suited for large and complex applications that require high scalability and availability. Additionally, the complexity of microservices can be high and need to be managed properly.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Microservices is a powerful architectural style that allows for faster development, easier maintenance, and greater scalability. It’s not a silver bullet and it’s important to weigh the benefits and costs of microservices before deciding to adopt it. While it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution, it can be a great choice for large and complex applications that require high scalability and availability.

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