Engineering

Top 5 Challenges of Monolithic Architecture

The word "monolithic" means "all in one." Monolithic architecture, which consisted of a single massive container-like structure that contained all the components intimately coupled in one place and independent activities, was in full swing in web development. Historically, 94 percent of developers use monolith architecture because of its simplicity and speed. The developers' issue was redeploying the entire application every time a new update was released. These difficulties were the primary motivation for switching from a monolithic to a more efficient architecture.  

Monolithic Architecture Obstacles overcome by Microservices Architecture  

Working with monolith architecture has created numerous roadblocks in the web development process. There was a pressing need to overcome these obstacles and migrate to a microservices design. Let us look at some of the challenges of monolithic architecture and how we might overcome them by migrating from a monolithic architecture to microservices.  

Scalability  

Scalability is one of the most crucial aspects of an application in today's technologically advanced world. As Monolithic design consists of a single container-like structure, scaling the entire application when the market is updated is challenging.  

Microservice architecture is a significant bonus because it consists of independent services. These self-contained services can scale to suit market needs. As a result, it is more cost- and time-effective. Scaling is just as simple as scaling up individual services rather than the entire application. Websites like Netflix, eBay, Spotify, and Amazon have migrated to Microservices architecture because of scalability.  

Availability  

If a server fails in a monolithic architecture, the entire application crashes and stops responding. When the system is at peak periods, it slows down or falls into a non-responsive mode, rendering it unusable.  

Because, in microservices architecture, there are discrete services, the application's availability is higher. Locating faults, isolating them, and recovering from them may be done much more quickly and effectively. Furthermore, if a single service fails, the application will not crash; instead, it will continue to function normally while the defective service is retrieved.  

Performance  

Monolithic architecture's performance was inefficient; while it performed well for small applications, it failed for large applications. A single server error might bring the entire application down, affecting the system's overall performance. While opting for microservices, services get their databases, servers, and resources. Because of independent services included in this architecture, if one service fails, other services continue to function, preventing the entire application from crashing. Thus, resulting in improving the system's performance.  

Etsy (eCommerce platform) faced performance and platform extensibility issues with the monolithic architecture. The company then decided to switch to a microservices architecture as it is accessible and less complex.  

Infrastructure

Infrastructure reliability factors such as fault tolerance, failure recovery, service availability, service discovery, configuration, and communication management are easy to implement with microservices. While the software industry is progressing rapidly, monolithic architecture has not been able to work well in that aspect.  
Uber also faced many challenges with monolith architecture and decided to convert the monolith into cloud-based microservices, making passenger management, trip management, and various other tasks easily manageable.

Business

Delivering monolithic architecture takes a lot of time because its technical methodologies do not match market demands. For example, when you want a custom payment plan to allow a customer to choose services and features of the subscription, the codebase with monolithic would still be a single large unit.  

Microservices architecture allows individual services to be sold and resized according to the client's needs. Payment for the subscription is also flexible. A new service can also be developed independently and integrated into the overall product based on client demand.  

Final note  

Microservices have proved to be the next step for growing businesses. When deciding whether to use monolithic or microservices architecture, the organization should consider the type of project and the client.

We have seasoned microservices experts at Codvo who can give you a clear picture of how things will work out for you if you choose microservices architecture with us.

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