Many companies are continuing to ditch their monolithic applications in favour of microservices architecture. We discussed the benefits and challenges of moving to microservices architecture in an earlier blog, so if you’re ready to take the next step, keep reading!
In this blog, we’ll take you through the journey from monolith to microservices, and help you break up your monolithic application.
Do you need to move to a microservices architecture?
If you have a monolithic application, you may be ready to dive into microservices architecture, which will allow you to increase agility, scalability, and efficiency. However, migrating to an ecosystem of microservices isn’t easy, but it will be worthwhile!
Before you start, do you need to move to a microservices architecture, or would it be better for you to maintain your monolithic application?
If it’s time for you to consider microservices, you may have already seen some signs, including:
- Users reporting frustrations with adding new features, as your codebase is a tangled mess!
- You’re struggling to scale the entire application for minor feature updates.
- There’s a bug in one part of the system, and it’s causing the entire system to break down.
If you’ve not seen these signs, or if your monolithic application is relatively small and well-maintained, then you may not need to move to microservices architecture, but that’s for you to decide.
How to move from monolith to microservices architecture
1. Analyse your monolith and plan your microservices architecture
Breaking up your monolith and moving to microservices is a complex process. Take a deep dive into your application to understand the anatomy, including:
- Looking at its core functionalities, the features it offers, and how they interact with each other. Consider which functionalities are frequently updated or require independent scaling.
- Identifying the dependencies between different parts of the codebase and which functionalities rely on each other in order to operate.
- Understanding how data is stored and accessed by different functionalities, and whether this is managed in a single codebase or data sets.
2. Migration strategy
There are two popular options for your migration strategy. Each come with their own benefits and challenges.
Strangler fig
This approach involves gradually building new functionalities as microservices and replacing the monolith functionalities over time. Eventually, the functionality from the existing monolith features become part of the new microservice architecture.
Benefits
Low risk
As you’re replacing functionalities incrementally, you reduce risk of introducing disruptions to the application.
Reduced downtime
Existing functionalities remain operational, so downtime is minimised.
Iterative learning
You can learn and adapt your microservice development practices as you progress.
Challenges
Slow migration
As you’re replacing functionalities gradually, it can take longer than if you were to rewrite the entire application.
Increased maintenance
You may need to maintain both the monolith and microservices during the transition period.
Big bang rewrite
This approach involves a full rewrite of the entire monolithic application as a set of microservices. It can be faster, however it involves more risk, as the application will experience downtime during the rewrite.
Benefits
Faster time to completion
If executed efficiently, a big bang rewrite can be completed quicker than the Strangler Fig approach.
Cleaner architecture
As you’ll be starting from scratch, you can build a microservices architecture with well-defined boundaries and best practices.
Challenges
High risk
As you’ll be completing a full rewrite, there’s a high risk of significant downtime and issues during deployment.
Resource intensive
You’ll need to invest significant development resources and careful planning to ensure a smooth migration.
Testing
Testing all microservices can become more complex in a big bang rewrite.
3. Development and implementation
Now that you understand your application, you’ve planned your architecture and your strategy, you can start to look at implementing it.
1. Develop microservices
Start with developing your microservices. These should be self-contained units with their own database and API. You’ll need to choose technologies that suit the needs of the service.
2. Establish API gateway
Once you’ve developed your microservices, you can establish a central API gateway to manage communication between microservices and external clients. Here’s how we manage our microservices for our travel technology platform.
3. Test and monitor
Each microservice needs to function independently and integrate with others, so you’ll need a robust testing process and monitoring system to track the performance of each service.
Conclusion
The journey from monolith to microservices is going to take careful planning, effort, and a skilled team, and you’ll need to invest a significant amount of time and resource to ensure success. By migrating to microservices, you can reap the benefits.
If you’re looking to work with a software company to help you support, maintain, or develop your internal software, head to our software development page for more information on our services or contact us today.
