Monolithic Vs MicroServices Architecture

December 23, 2023

In this post, we are going to see Monolithic Vs MicroServices Architecture. First, we will see about Monolithic Architecture then we will see about Microservice Architecture. This post contains three sections. Before going ahead let’s see high-level differences between Monolithic and Microservice architecture.

Monolithic architecture is easy and simple to develop and deploy, but hard and challenging when it grows as it is not easy to scale individual components, other hand in the case of Microservices architecture we can easily scale our individual services as our needs. But, microservices can be more complex to develop and deploy.

In the first section, we are going to cover Monolithic Architecture, then we will see Microservice Architecture and then we will see the differences between Monolithic and Microservices Architecture in tabular format.

Table of Contents

Monolithic Architecture

In a monolithic application, all components are parts of a single unit and it develops and deployed as a single unit. In a monolithic application, we build multiple modules/components together to generate a single war file and later we deploy this war file as a single unit.

Architecture of Monolithic Applications

In the case of a monolithic application, we build all modules together and create a single war/jar file. We use a single server to deploy this war. Since this war contains all modules it causes issues when the application grows.

Advantages of Monolithic Architecture

Monolithic applications are easy to develop since these applications are built using one code base. In the case of a Monolithic Application, we have a single code repository and a single database. Once we build our application a single war/jar file will be created.
Since we have a single war file for the entire application, it is easy to deploy using a single server.
In the case of Monolithic Applications transaction management is easy.
Debugging and troubleshooting are easy in the case of Monolithic Applications since all code base is in one place.

Disadvantages of Monolithic Architecture

For a single line of code changes, we need to deploy the whole application.
When a monolithic application grows large it becomes complex.
Scaling is a challenging process for a large monolithic application.
While writing the code we need to be very careful so that it should not break other changes. For testers need to test multiple modules even for small changes.
We can’t scale individual services, instead, we need to scale the whole application.
The release process takes more time in the case of monolithic applications since it needs more testing effort for developers as well as testers.

Microservice Architecture

As we discussed in the beginning, in the case of microservices we split a large monolithic application into smaller independent services. Let’s see important points related to microservice architecture.

We generally split our monolithic application into microservice architecture based on business requirements. For example, authentication/authorization, account, products, order, and payment are business features.
The microservice architecture Each microservice performs a specific task.
If you noticed in the below diagram for microservice architectures, we have a separate server and database for each microservice. In a monolithic application, there is one server and one database for the entire application. In the case of microservice architecture, there is a separate server and database for each microservice.
All microservices should be independent of each other. Also, they should be able to be developed, deployed, and scaled individually.
Each microservice should be able to communicate with each other, either using rest endpoints, messaging queue, or any other mechanism.
In microservice architecture, if we deploy one service we don’t need to deploy another service. For example we have some issue in Account Service then we need to deploy only Account Service, other services will not be impacted.

Advantages of microservices

Microservices can be developed and deployed individually.
Microservices are loosely coupled.
Easy to scale and efficient resource allocation. This means if some service needs high CPU/Memory we can scale just that service instead of the entire application.
Takes less time to learn. For example – A new developer can easily work on an individual service. They do not need to learn the entire application.
Each microservice can be developed in a different language. For example, an account service can be developed using Java where as order service can be developed using Python.
In a microservice architecture, if one service is down it doesn’t bring down the entire system. This isolated failure approach enhances the overall resilience of the application.
Using microservices development can be faster since minor code changes can be updated much more quickly. Also, it reduces testing time since we do not need to test the entire application, instead just test that particular service.
Better collaboration and ownership for developers. individual developer or small team can take ownership of specific microservices. This will lead to focused and efficient development.

Disadvantages of microservices

Microservices architecture, while offering several benefits, Also comes with a set of challenges and disadvantages that are important to consider, especially in the context of certain types of projects or organizational capabilities.

Microservice architecture offers many benefits, but it also comes with a set of challenges and disadvantages that are important to keep in mind.

In microservice architecture, since there are many services, managing different microservices can be more complex than managing a monolithic architecture.
Another major challenge in Microservices Architecture is transaction management across multiple services.
Since we have multiple microservices, we need to spend more money to manage, deploy, and scale the microservices.
Network Latency is another disadvantage of microservice architecture. When one service communicates with another service a network latency will be introduced if we have a large amount of data that we are trying to transfer over the network. The more microservices we have, the more inter-service communication is needed, which can lead to network latency.
While working with microservices, for a new developer it little bit hard to troubleshoot issues.
Also, Microservice architecture needs more skilled developers who know technologies like docker, Kubernetes, and tools like Prometheus, and Zipkin Server.
Securing a microservices architecture is more complex than securing a monolithic application. Each service needs to be individually secured, and the communication between services also needs to be secure.
Testing a microservices-based application can be more complex compared to a monolithic application. It involves testing each service individually which takes more time for testers.