Microservices: Architecting for Continuous Delivery and DevOps

Abstract

Businesses today need to respond to customer needs at unprecedented speeds. Driven by this need for speed, many companies are rushing to the DevOps movement and implementing Continuous Delivery (CD). I had been implementing DevOps and CD for Paddy Power, a multi-billion-euro betting and gaming company, for four years. I had found that software architecture can be a key barrier. To address the architectural challenges, we tried an emerging architectural style called Microservices. I have observed increased deployability, modifiability, and resilience to design erosion. At the same time, I also observed new challenges associated with the increased number of services, evolving contracts among services, technology diversity, and testing. I share the practical strategies that can be employed to address these new challenges, discuss situations for which Microservices may not be a good choice, and outline areas that require further research.