π¬ Loosely coupled fires
Distributed monoliths with extra steps
Welcome to microservices, where we solved the problem of having one thing that can break by creating 200 things that can break independently, simultaneously, and in creative new ways.
"We replaced our monolith with micro services so that every outage could be more like a murder mystery."
β @honest_update, October 7, 2015
π The Microservices Evolution
Stage 1: The Dream
"We'll have small, independent services that are easy to understand and deploy!"
Stage 2: The Reality
"Why do we have 47 repos, 23 databases, and 14 different ways to handle authentication?"
Stage 3: The Denial
"This is fine. The increased complexity is totally worth the... benefits."
Stage 4: The Awakening
"We've accidentally created a distributed monolith with network calls."
πΊοΈ Your Service Map
*Simplified view. Actual service map requires 4K monitor and magnifying glass.
π₯ Common Microservices Problems
πΈοΈ Distributed Debugging
Error spans 12 services, 47 log files, and 3 different time zones
π Circular Dependencies
Service A calls B calls C calls A. It's turtles all the way down.
π Data Consistency
Eventually consistent means eventually correct, right? Right?
π Network Partitions
The network is reliable. Until it isn't. Which is always.
π Security Boundaries
47 different authentication schemes, none of them perfect
π Monitoring Chaos
You need a service to monitor your monitoring services
π― Microservices Fun Facts
- The optimal number of microservices is n-1, where n is your current number
- Conway's Law applies: your services will mirror your org chart's dysfunction
- Every microservice starts as "simple" and ends as "legacy"
- The distributed transaction is the monolith's revenge
- Service mesh: because your network wasn't complicated enough
- Breaking down the monolith is easy; putting it back together is therapy
- The two hardest problems in microservices: cache invalidation, naming services, and off-by-one errors
- Microservices scale your problems, not just your architecture
π² Microservices Bingo
ποΈ Monolith vs. Microservices
"Microservices: because your problems weren't distributed enough."
β Every architect after the third outage
