How to Create a Microservice Architecture With Java

A Quick Overview

I am pretty sure you must have come across the concept of microservice architecture. For those who have no idea, this is a modern approach mainly considered to build software systems. Now these aren't any ordinary software solutions, they are supposed to be rich concerning scalability, flexibility, robustness, uniqueness, and ease of maintenance.

Microservices Architecture

Over the past few years, the concept of microservices has been quite an upsurge within the web application development realm. Organizations especially the ones featuring complicated and complex integrations are focusing on making a major shift towards a microservices architecture. Several resources reveal that more than 80% of companies are modernizing their applications using microservices architecture and they are pretty much happy with it.

Breaking down a software system is what we can say the general meaning of microservice architecture is an approach. It is successfully broken into pretty small, independent services. Now these services are meant to seamlessly communicate with each other using APIs. Every business comprises a plethora of functions that can be successfully deployed, as well as scaled independently. So what happens next is it becomes way more simpler and better to maintain as well. And the best advantage of all, in any case, if you happen to make small changes the entire system won't be affected at all.

Now how is this more beneficial from the monolithic architecture?

• Higher scalability
• A single failure won't damage the entire system
• Quick time to market
• Enhanced flexibility

Now have you ever thought about how Java comes into play here? Well, Java microservices is said when a Java app is developed featuring a wide range of independent composed, small, and loosely-coupled services. This is done to gain better performance and enhance overall productivity and efficiency. When such independent services tend to function on their own are known as Java Microservices.

In other words, Java microservices are more like traditional microservice architecture but the only difference here is they are quite compatible with all kinds of programming languages and enable Java development providers to come up with innovative approaches. In addition, Java Microservices offers a wide range of benefits and advantages, keep reading to delve into details.

Benefits of Java Microservices

1. Less Complexity

One of the obvious yet crucial benefits of considering Java Microservices is that it ensures a lesser amount of complexity which leads to a lesser amount of issues and problems. Now do you remember that saying united we stand and divided we fall? It's the same concept applied, the thing is as soon as you divide the entire system into smaller segments and services, the complications automatically get reduced. In addition, no two teams have to compulsorily rely on each other and they can keep developing their own set of coding individually.

2. Great Robustness

Java is quite popular in regards to high-end scalability, performance, and robustness so it somehow has to be an excellent choice when it comes to developing microservices.

3. Platform Independent

Another crucial advantage to take into account here is that Java's code can successfully run on any platform and operating system and developers no longer have to keep modifying it again and again. Also, it is extremely portable.

4. Enhanced Scalability

Bugs are a pretty inevitable aspect of any and every development procedure, it doesn't matter how clean and efficient you try conducting the procedure, sooner or later you will encounter certain issues and address them immediately. However, there are times when identifying these issues can be pretty daunting and tiresome especially when you are willing to make your app more and more scalable. Here Java microservices come to the rescue. Bugs can be easily found based on issues created, facing unnecessary troubles, and being non-functional. Not to mention, Java microservices packages can be successfully added and removed depending on the company's requirements.

5. Real-Time Processing

Now I am pretty sure you will agree with the fact that constant deployment and testing plays a very pivotal role in conducting a successful development project. Java microservices enable you to process the service package in real time and as soon as the error is identified. The teams simply have to update that part instead of re-evaluating and transforming the entire application. Real-time processing is bliss for developers all across the globe.

6. Rapid Deployment

Java Microservices can assist well in conducting development projects in a pretty short amount of time. Since finding and resolving issues is no longer a concern, lots and lots of time and energy are saved. Today, every service is tested in real-time and separately so the scope for failure has been thoroughly reduced. The software testing process plays a crucial role here, ensuring that each microservice performs reliably and integrates seamlessly with others. As a result, rapid deployment is possible benefiting the end customers, and company and assisting you well in gaining a competitive edge.

7. Resilience and Cost-effectiveness

As mentioned above, if one service fails it doesn't affect or negatively impact the entire application. Also, java microservices have a proven track record for enhancing system robustness, enhancing user experience, and above all being pretty cost-effective. Wondering how? Here services can be created and maintained on a separate basis, with quick development and well-optimised solutions leading to lower prices.

In addition to all these, Java microservices excel when it comes to modularity, decentralized architecture, language Agnosticism, using optimum resources, DevOps friendly, cloud-ready, and API-driven.

How to Create Microservice Architecture with Java?

1. Design the Microservices

The first and foremost thing to take into account is to identify all the potential functionalities of the developed app, especially looking around for those functionalities that can be easily broken down into separate and independent services. In addition to this, one must consider choosing relevant frameworks for developing microservices in Java, such as Spring Boot, Micronaut, or Vert. x.

These frameworks ensure to offer a wide range of tools and features for developing highly scalable and resilient microservices. And then one shouldn't forget to define the APIs.

• Input parameters
• Output responses
• Error-handling mechanisms.

Also, one must think of considering RESTful or event-driven approaches to communicate seamlessly between microservices.

2. Set up Communication between Microservices

The next step is to set a seamless way of establishing communication between microservices. Don't forget to decide on protocols and patterns. Some of the most common options include HTTP/REST, gRPC, and message brokers like Apache Kafka or RabbitMQ.

• Spring Cloud
• Micronaut Discovery
• Eureka for service discovery
• Spring Cloud Gateway or Netflix Zuul

Do not forget to implement error handling and fault tolerance mechanisms just to ensure reliable communication.

3. Data Storage

Now developing a proper data storage strategy is extremely important for each microservice. Now you can either consider choosing separate databases for each one or shared databases featuring proper access controls.

Here proper data storage relational databases must be implemented such as MySQL or PostgreSQL, NoSQL databases like MongoDB or Cassandra, or in-memory data stores like Redis or Hazelcast.

Using appropriate frameworks and libraries for proper data access JPA or Spring Data, to interact with databases from Java microservices.

4. Manage Deployment

Now the next step is to choose in regards to the deployment strategy of microservices. For example, It is always recommended to choose containerization for Docker and virtualization for virtual machines. Both of them are mainly considered for their high-end flexibility and scalability.

Tools such as Kubernetes or Docker Swarm must be considered for successful deployment. Do not forget to enable Logging, monitoring, and tracing mechanisms. Doing so ensures seamless troubleshooting.

5. Test and Deploy Microservices

And last but certainly not least comes the stage when it is about testing and deploying microservices. One must write unit testing, integration testing, and end-to-end tests just to ensure seamless functionality and reliability. Here continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices must be taken into account. Lastly, monitor and optimize the performance and reliability for conducting smooth operations.

Some of the best practices which must be followed include loose coupling, the single responsibility principle, and fault tolerance, to build scalable, resilient, and maintainable microservices.

Conclusion

Implementing Microservice architecture using Java offers a wide range of benefits and advantages such as high-end scalability, flexibility, rapid deployment, development, resilience, team scalability, cloud-native development and so more.

So no wonder the tech turns out to be one of the most popular choices for developing some of the most modern and scalable applications using Java. So are you ready to explore the world of microservices?