What Are Microservices?

The focus of this chapter is to get you acquainted with microservices. We will start with a brief introduction. Then, we will define its predecessors: monolithic architecture and service-oriented architecture (SOA). After this, we will see how microservices fare against both SOA and the monolithic architecture. We will then compare the advantages and disadvantages of each one of these architectural styles. This will enable us to identify the right scenario for these styles. We will understand the problems that arise from having a layered monolithic architecture. We will discuss the solutions available to these problems in the monolithic world. At the end, we will be able to break down a monolithic application into a microservice architecture. We will cover the following topics in this chapter:

• Origin of microservices
• Discussing microservices
• Understanding the microservice architecture
• Advantages of microservices
• SOA versus microservices
• Understanding problems with the monolithic architectural style
• Challenges in standardizing the .NET stack