4 Things to Consider Before You Jump on the Microservices Bandwagon

The traditional, linear, monolithic approach to developing software is being replaced with the microservices revolution. DevOps, containers, and other elements of microservices architecture are breaking app development and deployment down into smaller, more manageable components that can be automated and easily re-purposed.

There are many benefits to embracing microservices, but before you toss out your development methodology and join the microservices fan club make sure you’ve considered the potential challenges as well.

The rise of microservices as a means of developing and delivering software value faster is clearly on the rise. Containers have skyrocketed from a fringe technology to a mainstream imperative and organizations are scrambling to jump on the microservices bandwagon. Before you rush out to embrace microservices, though, there are a few things you should keep in mind.

First let’s talk about what microservices even are since it’s a relatively new term in a sea of relatively new terms.

Al Hilwa, research director, Application Development Software at IDC described microservices this way:

“Microservices is an architectural approach that draws on long evolving experience in software engineering and system design, including the SOA efforts of the last two decades. Microservices architecture is enabled by a spectrum of tool categories but is primarily an architectural approach to system design that also requires considerable organizational and cultural adjustment to execute successfully.”

Put more succinctly, microservices is an evolution of software development and deployment that embraces DevOps and containers and breaks applications down to smaller individual components. Organizations can develop and deploy faster because there is a modular approach that makes code more efficient and enables much of the common or routine elements to be automated.

Everyone seems to be doing DevOps and containers these days. If you’re not you may feel like you need to catch up quick or risk being left in your competitors’ collective dust. That may be true to some extent, but you have to approach microservices in the right way and for the right reasons. Jinesh Parekh, CEO of Idyllic Software, shared some thoughts about four challenges organizations should consider when venturing into the world of microservices.

1. Insufficient guidance

When it comes to implementing new technologies and embracing new strategies it can be a little like the “Wild West”. There are few hard rules in place and very little in the way of guidelines or documentation to help you navigate how to build and deploy software using microservices. Thankfully, sites like DevOps.com and ContainerJournal are here to provide as much information as possible to give organizations some guidance.

2. Getting it wrong

There are a variety of “moving parts” involved in doing microservices successfully. Your organization should adopt a DevOps culture and have the appropriate infrastructure in place to avoid getting it wrong. Microservices architecture is generally built on a foundation of cloud and virtualization, and relies heavily on automation to ensure success and avoid failures.

See the complete post on DevOps.com: 4 big challenges of microservices.