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InfoQ Homepage Guides The InfoQ eMag: Microservices vs. Monoliths - The Reality Beyond the Hype

The InfoQ eMag: Microservices vs. Monoliths - The Reality Beyond the Hype

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It's clear that microservices are the current hot architectural pattern, covered extensively on blogs, in the tech news at software conferences. Several times a week, InfoQ has a news item, podcast or presentation mentioning microservices.

But is it all just hype and a pattern useful at startups working on greenfield applications? And is the dreaded monolith, the antithesis of a microservices architecture, really dying a slow death, barely limping along until a complete replacement is built?

The reality looks closer to the compromises that any software architect will recognize. Both architectures come with pros and cons, and it is important to understand all the trade-offs before deciding that the monolith has to go, and microservices are the answer. A common theme is managing complexity, and successful solutions (with either architecture) strongly embrace concepts of Domain-Driven Design.

This eMag includes articles written by experts who have implemented successful, maintainable systems across the spectrum of microservices to monoliths.

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Microservices vs. Monoliths - The Reality Beyond the Hype eMag include:

  • Developing Transactional Microservices Using Aggregates, Event Sourcing and CQRS - Chris Richardson lays out clear guidelines for building a microservices architecture around the concepts of aggregates, event sourcing and CQRS. He sees DDD bounded contexts and aggregates as the building blocks for microservices.
  • In Defense of the Monolith - Dan Haywood believes modular monoliths are a better option than microservices when dealing with a complex domain that doesn’t need to support internet-scale traffic. Rather than the “big ball of mud,” a modular monolith can be maintainable, given the proper discipline.
  • Evolution of Business Logic from Monoliths through Microservices, to Functions - Adrian Cockcroft looks toward the future, going beyond microservices to functions. Significant advancements in technology, coupled with changes in how organizations and development teams are structured, have allowed us to get to where we are today, and are providing a path forward to ever-smaller deployable components.
  • The Journey from Monolith to Microservices: A Guided Adventure - Mike Gehard describes a journey from a monolith to microservices. Again following DDD principles, bounded contexts help create structure in an existing monolith, which simpli es the transition to microservices.
  • Virtual Panel: Microservices in Practice - A virtual panel of developers and architects discuss microservices in practice. The panelists highlight where microservices are used successfully, what tools, technologies and patterns developers need to learn, and how microservices are continuing to evolve.

InfoQ eMags are professionally designed, downloadable collections of popular InfoQ content - articles, interviews, presentations, and research - covering the latest software development technologies, trends, and topics.

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