Microservices Architecture at Greer John Wealth Management Pty LtdName:Professor: Institutional Affiliation:

Introduction

Microservices came into the limelight just a few years back and are an accelerating trend today. Indeed, Microservices offers tangible benefits, including flexibility, agility, and scalability, among other services. Google, Amazon, Netflix are among the leading tech firms that have successfully switched from monolithic architecture to microservices architecture. Many firms are now considering microservices as the most proficient method for business growth. On the contrary, the monolithic methodology is a default method used in the creation of software applications. Its trend has been going down over the last few years because building a monolithic application is associated with several issues linked with scaling, deployment, huge base code, implementation, and adopting new technology. Microservices are an architectural strategy for the creation of applications (Černý & Donahoo, 2018). They are loosely coupled and distributed as an architectural framework so that changes in a team will not break the entire application.

The main advantage of using microservices is that the teams responsible for development will quickly establish new applications that will meet the ever-changing business needs. The following study seeks to understand the adoption of Microservices Architecture in a portfolio investment company known as Greer John Wealth Management Pty Limited. The body is divided into four broad sections: benefits of transitioning from monolithic architecture to microservices architecture, factors to consider while splitting monolithic architecture into future microservices, benefits of service modeling, and the last part will focus on the building and testing process of implementing DevOps.

Monolithic Architecture Versus Microservices Architecture

Monolithic Architecture is an old method that means creating an application as a single unit that entails functional components such as business logic, database operations, and background processing. All these active components run on the same servers, and they are deployed at the same time. Monolithic cultures carry along several benefits such as ease to test, convenience to develop a simple application, and one application is released at a time when a new function is added (Faber, 2020). Nevertheless, all these advantages have their difficulties. When you need to make a slight change, you must deploy the entire application, which is unnecessary and complicated. Besides, when the need arises to change a few lines in a small bug, an organization must create the whole system and install it.

On the other hand, the Microservices Architecture tactic involves designing applications as a set of various small services. Every service has a single application with its database, framework, and programming language. All these are deployed and developed separately from other services; they communicate through internal communication protocols such as AMQP, HTTP, or TCP. Compound applications with several modules that require to scale call for Microservices Architecture (Sharma, Packt Publishing Ltd). E-Bay, Amazon, Uber, SoundCloud, and Groupon are some of the giant global organizations that have embraced Microservices Architecture. Microservices Architecture permits operation on various services self-reliantly without affecting the work on other constituents. Firms that are expanding can grow their applications as the requirements and workload increases. (Sanchez & Vilarino, 2017) Microservices Architecture solves every issue of monolithic architecture. The following are the benefits that Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd will enjoy transitioning from Monolithic Architectural Services to Microservices Architecture.

The benefit of Microservices Architecture

Scalability

Microservices Architecture is based on various small components, and scaling is much easier compared to monolithic architecture. Scalability ensures that when a particularly significant change occurs in an individual section, the other parts will run correctly and remain untouched (Newman, 2015). Scaling will be an excellent approach for an organization such as Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd, which operates on many applications and devices.

Flexibility

Another benefit of adopting Microservices Architecture is that it will not limit developers’ technologies and tools. Each service can be developed with a different language and framework. Moreover, Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd simplifies choosing the best technology for its customer’s portfolio management. Components are various, and this does not affect the Communication and functionality of other microservices. Technology-based issues are more comfortable to solve in some firms than others (Nadareishvili, Mitra, McLarty, & Amundsen, 2016). When it comes to technology use, Microservices Architecture has no limitations, unlike monolith architecture, where you are forced to operate on the same technology throughout the process.

Increased Productivity

Microservices saves up a lot of time because they are easy to develop. They allow numerous groups to work on several components without necessarily affecting the functioning of other services. There is no need to wait for one group to finish so that the other team can start working. Further, it is easier to move and modify microservices (Rajput, 2018). As a result, testers can now test different services independently. This is completed in a brief time without necessarily waiting for the whole application to get ready.

Accessible Communication among distributed groups

People working remotely can function much more quickly with microservices architecture. On the contrary, it is impossible to develop a monolithic system with teams from across the globe (Ravichandran, Taylor, & Waterhouse, 2016). Adopting Microservices Architecture at Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd will allow developers to work independently without waiting for every group to make a decision.

Maintenance

Debugging an application in any organization is now becoming pain-free, and due to the small size of microservices, repairing and detecting errors is done within no time. Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd teams will have control over delivering error-free applications and small code instances. Nonetheless, it might be hard to discover whenever an issue arises if you have many building blocks. Consequently, it is smart for an organization to utilize monitoring tools to interact with problems more efficiently (Černý & Donahoo, 2018).

Flexibility to Adopt New Technologies

Each service is bound to its API after breaking up the Monolith. Correspondingly, groups are free to employ the right technology for the job at hand. If the initial codebase was in Java, a firm could have NodeJS, Java, or python. Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd teams can make use of numerous databases. Additionally, the investment firm may employ an RDBMS, NoSQL, Ehcache, or Redis.

Key Elements of Service Design and considerations into future microservices

Low Coupling and High Cohesion

When describing Microservices architecture, the times coupling and cohesion are used interchangeably. The former defines the extent of interdependence between components of an application. The latter is employed to the magnitude of interdependencies. Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should design microservices so that coupling is low and cohesion is high. The plan will create microservices that will be scalable, adaptable to changes, and extended over a while. Modules will also function better when the cohesion is high (Newman, 2015). On the other hand, if there is low cohesion, there will be many back and forth communication between services, thus causing scalability and degraded performances.

Proper Definition of Scope

Any organization should clearly define the functionality of a Microservice, stating its intention. A Microservice scope corresponds to the requirements of an independent business unit. Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should set a suitable range for every Microservice to define its boundaries and rationalize its size.

Adherence to the Single Responsibility Principle

According to the Single Responsibility Principle, no class should ever have more than one reason for the change. The principle is fundamental in designing a micro-service based application, as there should be no various roles in one Microservice.

Design for Failure

One of Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should be creating a resilient and fault-tolerant software. Performance issues or failure in one service should not affect the other services (Lenhard, 2016). The Microservice should be designed, so that database connectivity problems, memory leak, or other problems in one Microservice do not slow down the application.

Built around Business Competences

Every Microservice should be designed in such a way that it solves an organizational issue. The developer’s role is to employ a suitable technology stack for every entity issue in each Microservice. Monolithic architecture is constrained to apply homogenous technology, but Microservices architecture is not limited to utilize a single most suitable technology stuck for the entire architecture (Faber, 2020). T developers to select what is readily available and right for use in every unit of the application.

Data Decentralization

Microservices maintain their copy of data, unlike monolithic applications, meaning each Microservice has its database. During the design process, Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should not set up numerous services to share or access a similar database. It defeats the intention of independent Microservice operation.

Gearing up the Automation Process

Designing a Microservice can be organized in different units, and this must be managed by the application team. Therefore, it is crucial to program the positioning process for Microservices-based modules through smart iterative releasing tools such as CI/CD Pipeline.

Inter-service Communication

When Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd is migrating from a monolithic application to microservices, many interrelated components must be broken apart, and these services require a way to communicate (Sanchez & Vilarino, 2017). Microservices applications allow diverse programming approaches and languages so that the services have different technologies that facilitate inter-communication.

Constant Monitoring

Production of Microservices is interrelated and distributed. It is overwhelming to identify and discover errors manually. Instead, the utilization of an automated monitoring system can aid the portfolio investment company. As part of the deployment and design process, Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should select tools that analyze and captures data based on services’ performance while at the same time generating essential metrics.

Traffic Management

Traffic in microservices differs from one application to the other. There might be massive traffic in one service, while in another, there is low-demand in another. Performance is a crucial factor in every traffic scenario. Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should take advantage of circuit breaker and auto-scaling patterns to maximize their outcomes.

Benefits of service modeling

Cost

Service modeling offers notable savings for various reasons. Firstly, it excludes the upfront installation cost as well as on-going costs such as upgrades and maintenance. Instead of spending a lot of money on hardware installation, service modeling applications are easy to maintain, and they can be downloaded (Lenhard, 2016). Another benefit of service modeling results from its ability to access highly powered software that could have been inaccessible through conventional procuring methods.

Time

Time is money, and service modeling can save both. For many service modeling applications, installation is as simple as having a login and internet connections. Additionally, maintenance responsibilities move from the IT department to the customer (Rajput, 2018). Correspondingly, there is eliminating downtime and extra working hours that might have been necessary for the upgrade.

Accessibility and Scalability

Another useful feature of service modeling is that pay as you go model offers excellent options and flexibility. Since the application is handled externally by the consumers, any change in usage plan can be quickly done without a notice (Sanchez & Vilarino, 2017). Furthermore, a web-based user permits subscribers to access the software from any part of the world, as long as they have internet connectivity.

Compatibility

With the traditional software installation, applications may take a lot of money and time during the upgrade process. Discrepancies among team members can lead to time wastage and increased compatibility issues. Service modeling subscribers can log on and access the already upgraded services.

Definition of DevOps

DevOps is an application delivery method and software development that assumes an integrated and collaborative approach between application operations (the Ops) and application development (the Dev) (Richardson, 2018). DevOps main goal is to deliver applications faster, with a lower failure rate and increased frequency. Development processes such as Agile offer a framework for quick delivery of software. Similarly, the same approach can be utilized to complete the application delivery process. Technologies such as data center automation and virtualization facilitate application delivery as a regular business to business operations with a DevOps model.

Typical build and test process for Greer John Wealth Management to implement DevOps.

The following practices will help Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd build, test, and implement DevOps.

• Continuous integration is one software development tools where Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd will merge its code changes into a central repository. Its automated tests are built are run.
• In continuous delivery, this is a development practice where code changes are built, tested, and prepared for release into the next stage of production(Newman, 2019).
• The third practice, microservices architecture, is a design method meant to form a single application set for all the small services.
• The fourth practice is known as infrastructure as a code managed and provisioned using software development and code techniques.
• Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd should monitor logs and metrics to see how infrastructure and application performance affects the user’s experience. By capturing, classifying, and analyzing records and data generated by applying infrastructure and applications, the wealth management company will be positioned to understand issues, unexpected changes, and the effects of updates on users(Sharma, Packt Publishing Ltd).
• The last practice entails increased Communication and collaboration, which is one of the principal cultural aspects of DevOps. This will facilitate speeding up Communication across operations, developers and will facilitate aligning closely on projects and goals.

Conclusion

Despite the decreasing popularity of a monolithic architecture, it has its durable and robust advantages, suitable for many use scenarios. If a firm has a fresh idea they desire to authenticate it, they should employ the monolithic approach. With a small engineering group that wants to develop a lightweight and simple application, there is no need to adopt microservices. In such a case, a monolithic application will be much easier to deploy, build, make changes, and provide testing. Microservices architecture is mainly beneficial for evolving and complex applications. It provides an intelligent solution for handling complicated matters of an organization within one application. Also, they are ideal in platforms covering many workflows and user journeys. However, without the right expertise to handle microservices,  this model’s application will not be possible.

If the team accountable for development does not have the expertise, then the firm should make a partnership with hands-on encounter in building a microservices architecture. Many leading technology firms today outsource their microservices architectural development to the external information and technology dealers.

The adoption of DevOps is a chief revolution in the method of delivering software. Implementing DevOps in Greer John Wealth Management Pty Ltd will offer improved customer experience and faster delivery of products. Moreover, it will reduce the risk of deploying deficient software, thus making the management and the customers satisfied.

References

Černý, T., & Donahoo, M. J. (2018). Contextual understanding of microservice architecture: current and future directions. Applied Computing Review, 29-45.

Faber, F. (2020). The Future of Software Quality Assurance. Testing in DevOps, 27-38.

Lenhard, J. (2016). Portability of Process-Aware and Service-Oriented Software: Evidence and Metrics. Bavaria: University of Bamberg Press.

Nadareishvili, I., Mitra, R., McLarty, M., & Amundsen, M. (2016). Microservice Architecture: Aligning Principles, Practices, and Culture. California: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Newman, S. (2015). Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems. California: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Newman, S. (2019). Monolith to Microservices: Evolutionary Patterns to Transform Your Monolith. California: O’Reilly Media, Inc.

Rajput, D. (2018). Hands-On Microservices – Monitoring and Testing: A performance engineer’s guide to the continuous testing and monitoring of microservices. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd.

Ravichandran, A., Taylor, K., & Waterhouse, P. (2016). DevOps Foundations. DevOps for Digital Leaders, 27-47.

Richardson, C. (2018). Microservices Patterns: With examples in Java. New York: Manning Publications.

Sanchez, C. P., & Vilarino, P. S. (2017). PHP Microservices. Birmingham: Packt Publishing Ltd.

Sharma, S. (Packt Publishing Ltd). Mastering Microservices with Java 9: Build domain-driven microservice-based applications with Spring, Spring Cloud, and Angular. 2017: Birmingham.