Microservices architecture is the approach for developing systems containing separate sections of software that communicate over APIs deployed independently. These can be developed, deployed and maintained independently and are each dedicated to a specific business function to solve complex problems.

Microservices are used by technological giants globally. Netflix was one of the first adopters of this architecture in 2009 when it started migrating from monolithic to a cloud-based architecture. Using Amazon Web Services (AWS), Netflix made the move to manage large amounts of data & user information and deliver uninterrupted experience to its users. Giants like Amazon, Uber, Spotify and many more also use microservices to bring continuous technological development and efficiency to their services.

What Are The Benefits Of Microservices?

There are many benefits associated with using Microservices, such as:

1. Speedy Deployments:

The segmented nature of microservices allows for faster development as teams do not have to rely on others to finish their tasks. Developers have the flexibility to swiftly build or tweak a microservice and install it in the larger architecture without causing conflicts or disruptions.

2. Better Scalability:

With microservices being autonomous, additional microservices can be deployed to handle more data without interrupting any processes. New components can be added, updated and scaled using different technologies.

3. Improved Fault Isolation:

When one microservice malfunctions in an instance of component failure, it won’t impact or hinder the functioning of the other microservices. Identifying glitches becomes easy with isolation and troubleshooting can be done while larger applications are functional, resulting in increased uptime and seamless user experience.

4. Greater Team Productivity:

Microservices enable cross-functional teams to carry out development in an unrestricted manner. Teams spread across different regions can seamlessly work since each team is responsible for a specific function. Removing dependencies leads to higher productivity and efficient operations.

5. Higher Flexibility:

Microservices allow the flexibility to use different technologies on individual services. Developers are free to leverage the frameworks they want based on their skillsets or needs of the project without it hindering communication between components.

Implementing Microservices Using AWS

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the ultimate platform to implement microservices across many categories:

1. Networking:

Amazon ECS Service Discovery and AWS App Mesh, Amazon API Gateway, AWS Elastic Load Balancing

2. Monitoring:

Amazon CloudWatch for infrastructure and AWS CloudTail for API traffic

3. Storage:

ElastiCache and Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)

4. Computing:

AWS Lambda, Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS) and Elastic Kubernetes Service (Amazon EKS)

5. CI/CD:

AWS CloudFormation, AWS CodeCommit and Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR)

6. Messaging:

Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) for notifications and Simple Queue Service (SQS) for message queuing

7. Databases:

Amazon RDS, Amazon Aurora and DynamoDB

Microservices Architecture On AWS

Contrary to monolithic applications that are developed using layers, microservices architecture consists of independent functionalities divided into verticals – User Interface, Microservices and Data Store, each of which are dedicated to specific functions.

1. User Interface:

Representational State Transfer (REST) or RESTful API are used to communicate in case of web applications developed with JavaScript to implement single-page applications. Amazon offers Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) and Amazon CloudFront to host static web content.

2. Microservices:

AWS Lambda and AWS Fargate are two tools that support the development of microservices. AWS Lambda allows for speedy development and takes care of the security and scaling of your application. One just has to upload the code and Lambda manages the rest without any infrastructure management. Various programming languages can be used on AWS Lambda and can be activated from other AWA Services or directly from any mobile or web application.

AWA Fargate is a container management service that helps run serverless containers. It removes the trouble of provisioning, configuring or scaling clusters of virtual machines to run containers. Fargate can seamlessly scale to run critical applications and can launch thousands of containers. The highlight of using Fargate is that it allocates the required amount of compute and you end up paying only for the resources needed to run your containers. It works with both Amazon Elastic Container Service (ECS) and Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).

3. Data Store:

In-memory caches that are a part of ElastiCache services such as Redis or Memcached are used to store shared session data. The most followed approach to decrease the read load of databases is to insert a cache between application servers and a database. This results in the availability of resources to support more writes while also improving latency. Amazon Aurora, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Maria DB are six database engines offered by AWS.

Remember These Cross-Service Challenges

Sure, AWS solves many challenges related to individual microservices, however, it also poses some challenges that can hinder communication and coordination between microservices. Some of them are –

1. Service Discovery:

Communication and discovery among services can be the biggest challenge with microservices. The independent and distributed nature of the architecture can also present issues like examining the health of other systems. AWS offers software and service mesh products like Eureka, Consul and AWS App mesh to help with service discovery. DNS based service delivery is done using Amazon ECS by which a registry of service names using Route 53 Auto Naming API can be created. Additionally, unified service delivery for services managed by Kubernetes and AWS Cloud Map can also be used.

2. Distributed Monitoring:

There are many distributed components in microservices architecture that have to be monitored. Amazon CloudWatch50 can be used to collate and monitor metrics. CloudWatch provides a system-wide view of performance, operations and resource utilization. Prometheus is another popular choice that is used with Grafana to monitor and visualize metrics.

3. Chattiness:

There are chances of high message loads with a large number of microservices are involved. Consolidating services can be used to reduce chattiness though that might not be the best solution. Caching can be done using Amazon ElastiCache to minimize the load and reduce latency by locally caching results.

4. Data Management:

There can be instances of overlap between microservices since they are responsible for varied functions. This presents the need to control logics to avoid partial or failed executions. Amazon Lambda along with Amazon CloudWatch Events can help in developing cleanup and deduplication mechanisms.

5. Auditing:

Getting visibility to user actions and obtaining an overview of all services can be a major challenge in microservices architectures. Auditing provides a view into all changes, both at individual and pan-service levels which is critical to implement security policies. AWS CloudTail solves this problem by enabling tracking of all user and system actions that can be examined for glitches and violations. Audit trails in CloudWatch are stored in real-time and captures data such as IP address, service actions, timestamps and more.

6. Orchestration And State Management:

Orchestration of workflows in the presence of many microservices can be a challenging task. Step Functions is a tool that eases service orchestration by enabling application development from individual functions dedicated to specific functions. It supports the orchestration of applications developed on Amazon ECS, Amazon EC2 as well as Lambda functions.
Final Words

Microservices architecture offers a plethora of benefits when scalability is involved. It increases productivity & resilience, enables faster deployments and provides a great deal of technological and team-related flexibility. However, microservices comes with its share of complexities as well. So before moving and committing to microservices architecture, take a thorough account of your business requirements and specifics of the project.