Upgrading Monolithic Applications into Microservices Architecture

Author: Charter Global
Published: May 18, 2020

Monolithic architecture is typically code-based formed as a singular expansive system. On the other hand, a microservices architecture is formed from a variety of smaller services that each host their own coding foundation. There are a lot of reasons why a company would start with a monolithic applications. Monolithic structures can be less work for smaller teams, typically is less complex, and can sometimes process faster than microservice applications. However, monolithic apps can get increasingly difficult to manage and can be very tricky to understand with its many dependent intricacies.

Microservices utilize a batch of services that run independently of each other. For some companies, utilizing this type of architecture is the way to go. Microservices can be much more organized than monolithic apps, easier to manipulate when trying to single out one service, can have easier scaling abilities, and less room for error when changing or modifying an area of code within the application.

The downside that companies run into with microservices is that they tend to require more time to design at the beginning (and with much more overhead). Although, down the road, it can be much more cost-effective changing services in a “microservices architecture” rather than a monolithic.

For businesses that want to see a faster pace and more adaptability, migrating from a monolithic architecture to a microservices architecture might just be the way to go. Using a team experienced with this form of architecture is crucial for the success of the application. When upgrading, it’s important to build out the infrastructure and management system first, and then slowly migrate over services that are either fairly simple or relatively independent compared to others. Start from edge services and slowly work your way into the core capabilities of the application. It’s important to do it this way so that the core functionality of the application is not affected. If at any point there are services that rely on the monolith core after breaking it away, it’s a sign that this particular service is not defined enough and needs to be reworked into smaller, separate services.

While this might be a rather extensive migration process at first, it will create much more flexibility and scalability in the long run for the application. Charter Global can upgrade your existing big application into multiple independent manageable microservice applications so that each application can run on its own. With microservices, your application will be able to save you measurable costs than if you had stayed with the slow-moving monolithic architecture that once applied to your business but is no longer viable.