Microservices Architecture

An architectural style for building software solutions as a network-based system of modular services organized by business domains in order to improve the application’s evolvability, deployability, composability, scalability, resiliency and replaceability

Mike Amundsen, Matt McLarty, Ronnie Mitra, Irakli Ndareishvili. Microservice Architecture: Aligning Principles, Practices, and Culture.

The dream

1. Identify business scenario aka 'a problem'
2. Form a team
3. Design the API
4. Choose language and framework
5. Write, test, deploy and scale
6. PROFIT!!!

The reality

The Monolith!

Breaking up the monolith

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/service-fabric/service-fabric-overview-microservices

Why?

• Architectural design
• Code coupling
• Engineering velocity
• Deployments
• Testing
• Live-site
• Scaling
• Team satisfaction

Disclaimer

I'm not oposed to microservices
or breaking up monoliths!

Disclaimer #2

My background:

• .NET
• Azure Service Fabric
• Microsoft ;)

Architectural design & Code Coupling

Technical Sprawl

languages, frameworks, communication protocols, tools, dashboards

The only way to cut down on technical sprawl is through standardization at every level of the microservice ecosystem.

Fowler, Susan J. Production-ready Microservices: Building Standardized Systems Across an Egineering Organization.

Cross-service communication

var result = Method(arg1, arg2);

Performance, reliability, security, debugging,
service discovery, telemetry

Engineering velocity

code discoverability, cross-service changes

Testing

test granurality, API changes,
dev-box testing

Deployments

Continuous deployments, parallel deployments, homogeneous environments,
standing up new environments

Live-site

Who do you call when something goes wrong at 3AM?

Options

1. Call the owner of the first failing microservice
2. Call the owner of all the failing microservices
3. Pinpoint the broken microservice(s), call the right owner(s)

Telemetry

Request tracing, service dependencies,
service health and performance, network traffic

Request tracing

https://sudo.hailoapp.com/services/2015/03/09/journey-into-a-microservice-world-part-3/

Service dependencies

https://sudo.hailoapp.com/services/2015/03/09/journey-into-a-microservice-world-part-3/

Network traffic

https://github.com/Netflix/vizceral

Network traffic

https://github.com/Netflix/vizceral

Suggestions

Long-term investment

Evolution, not revolution

Processes

Ship the monolith faster first!

• CI/CD
• Automated testing
• Telemetry

Start with something that's not critical

Move to more critical things later

Move/Split for the sake of splitting does very little sense

It has to be so much better, that people will want to move organically