Top 10 Microservice Anti-Patterns

A well-built microservices architecture-based exertion tin withstand nan trial of clip by being scalable, flexible, and resilient to astir issues that whitethorn travel its way.

These architectures execute a precocious level of resilience owed to its loosely coupled components that tin tally independently truthful not being affected by different microservices wrong nan application.

This being said location are ever ways that a microservice architecture tin neglect and go ineffective.

In this article, we will look into immoderate of nan astir communal Anti-Patterns aliases creation patterns that tin bring retired issues wrong a microservice-based architecture.

If you want a summary, here’s a database of nan anti-patterns:

1. Monolith successful Microservices

2. Chatty Microservices

3. Distributed Monolith

4. Over-Microservices

5. Violating Single Responsibility

6. Spaghetti Architecture

7. Distributed Data Inconsistency

8. Tight Coupling

9. Lack of Observability

10. Ignoring Human Costs

If you’re trying to build microservies while preserving a monolith architecture, you’ll tally into issues pinch scalability, responsibility tolerance and galore more. This is often caused by:

1. Shared Databases: When you’re building microservices, it’s often a bully thought to person a database per service. This lets you power nan database type, schema rules, IOPS capacity connected a per work norm frankincense letting you person finer power complete scaling. But, if you usage a azygous database for each your service, you make it harder for your app to grow.
2. Complex Deployment: Despite being decomposed into smaller services, nan deployment process is still analyzable and time-consuming, requiring coordination betwixt various teams and manual involvement. This limits nan agility and elasticity achieved by implementing microservices.
3. Inadequate Service Boundaries: Poorly specified work boundaries would consequence successful overlapping functionality and unclear ownership. This tin lead to plagiarism of activity and difficulties successful controlling and improving nan architecture.

So, to debar having monoliths successful microservices, I’d urge going up pinch a azygous database per microservices on pinch defining clear ownership of your microservices via a Domain Driven Design.

Due to their decoupled nature, microservices often pass pinch each different to process nan workload of nan application. While connection is key, over-communication aliases inefficient chatter betwixt microservices will make them little efficient.

Let’s look astatine immoderate scenarios that tin importantly alteration ratio while contributing to chatty microservices:

1. Frequent Inter-Service Communication: Cases successful which microservices wrong nan strategy nonstop a ample number of requests to different microservices to execute insignificant tasks aliases get mini amounts of data. This tin make ample web postulation and summation consequence delay.
2. Fine-Grained APIs: Microservices supply fine-grained APIs that require galore calls to complete a azygous personification petition aliases business transaction. Each telephone whitethorn request serialization, web overhead, and moreover blocking I/O operations, expanding capacity issues.
3. Cascade of Calls: A azygous personification petition aliases transaction initiates a bid of calls amongst aggregate microservices, pinch each work relying connected nan others to complete its processing. This tin origin a domino effect, successful which nan nonaccomplishment aliases hold of 1 work spreads to others, resulting successful system-wide deterioration.

So, to debar this issue, you’ll request to creation your architecture successful specified a measurement that your services are decoupled and much scalable. You tin present connection queues, arena busses aliases arena topics by leveraging services for illustration Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS and Amazon EventBridge.

As you tin see, nan Order Acknowledgment Microservice communicates pinch nan Shipment, Inventory and Notification Microservices. However, it doesn’t straight pass pinch these services. Instead, it uses nan intediary services for illustration SQS and SNS to decouple nan connection behavior.

By doing so, you tin debar inter-service connection decouple nan pass betwixt your services.

This anti-pattern refers to an exertion that is designed and implemented arsenic a distributed strategy but is composed of aggregate interconnected components aliases services that are tightly coupled and truthful nan microservices deficiency existent independence.

Some of nan cardinal characteristics of this anti-pattern include:

1. Lack of Service Autonomy: Each constituent successful nan distributed strategy lacks complete autonomy since it relies heavy connected different components for their operation. This deficiency of independency makes it challenging to scale, deploy, and germinate various elements independently.
2. Complex Interdependencies: The distributed system’s components person intricate interdependencies, pinch 1 relying connected galore others to usability properly. This results successful a web of relationships that is difficult to negociate and understand, expanding complexity and risk.
3. Shared State: Components of a distributed strategy stock authorities aliases information directly, either via shared databases, caches, aliases nonstop communication. This shared authorities tin origin information consistency challenges, title conditions, and standard difficulties.

For instance, see this architecture:

You’re invoking 3 services — OrderService, PaymenrService and InvoiceService. These 3 services are made to usability independently, but by chaining nan invocation for illustration this, you’re coupling nan services to this 1 operation. By doing so, you present issues for illustration linear scaling and create unncessary interdependencies.

Again, you tin get free of specified rumor by decoupling your microservices pinch services for illustration SNS, SQS.

One of nan astir communal misconceptions erstwhile designing microservice-based architectures is to break isolated each usability into a microservice; moreover nan simplest of functions!

This introduces microservices wherever it is not needed and goes beyond what is basal aliases beneficial to it being decremental to nan wide capacity of nan application. It is important to break down microservices connected what’s basal while pursuing Domain-Driven Design principles.

Key characteristics of nan “Over-Microservices” anti-pattern include:

1. Excessive Fragmentation: The strategy is divided into a important number of microservices, which mightiness consequence successful dozens aliases moreover hundreds of services. Each microservice whitethorn only encapsulate a mini information of functionality, resulting successful excessively fine-grained decomposition.
2. Low Cohesion: Individual microservices deficiency coherence, which intends they whitethorn not see logically connected aliases coherent sets of functionality. This tin lead to scattered and fragmented business logic, making it difficult to comprehend and negociate nan strategy arsenic a whole.
3. High Coupling: Despite being walled into microservices, services whitethorn beryllium tightly coupled owed to sizeable inter-service interactions and interdependence. Changes successful 1 microservice whitethorn request changes successful galore different microservices, expanding complexity and risk.

One measurement to hole this problem is to adopt Domain Driven Design into your microservices and to create microservices for circumstantial domains of your app. For a elaborate guideline connected DDD, cheque this out:

This is simply a basal usurpation of nan work of a usability successful an object-oriented design. It happens erstwhile a azygous usability aliases microservice takes connected aggregate responsibilities aliases concerns that should ideally beryllium separated. For example, erstwhile a costs processing microservice besides handles personification registration.

Let’s look astatine immoderate scenarios that beforehand this anti-pattern:

1. Lack of Design Principles Awareness: Developers whitethorn not beryllium wholly alert of aliases comprehend creation concepts specified arsenic nan Single Responsibility Principle (SRP), aliases they whitethorn neglect to prioritize their exertion wrong nan codebase.
2. Inadequate Planning: Inadequate readying aliases study astatine nan early phases of package creation tin consequence successful an unclear delineation of duties for components, starring successful nan mixing of galore concerns wrong nan aforesaid component.
3. Misinterpretation of Requirements: Misunderstanding aliases misunderstanding of requirements tin consequence successful nan preamble of unneeded aliases irrelevant functionality wrong a component, which violates nan Single Responsibility Principle (SRP).

Some antipatterns are self-explanatory conscionable for illustration nan Spaghetti Architecture, wherever it refers to package architecture that lacks clear building and organization, resulting successful a tangled messiness of interconnected components, modules aliases layers.

Key characteristics of nan “Spaghetti Architecture” anti-pattern include:

1. Lack of Separation of Concerns: The architecture fails to abstracted betwixt different concerns aliases duties, starring to nan mixing of business logic, position logic, information entree logic, and different features wrong nan aforesaid constituent aliases module.
2. Complex Control Flow: The architecture’s power travel is analyzable and convoluted, pinch limitations and interactions betwixt components that are difficult to way aliases comprehend. This mightiness consequence successful unpredictable behaviour and unintended consequences.
3. High Coupling: Similar to what we looked astatine earlier, components aliases modules wrong nan architecture are intimately connected, which intends they are highly limited connected 1 another. Changes to 1 constituent sometimes request changes to respective different components, causing a ripple effect crossed nan system.

This is erstwhile information is replicated crossed aggregate nodes aliases services, and inconsistencies originate owed to delays aliases failures successful synchronizing updates crossed these replicas which leads to incorrect aliases outdated accusation being accessed by different parts of nan system, resulting successful incorrect behavior, information corruption, aliases integrity violations.

Key characteristics of nan “Distributed Data Inconsistency” anti-pattern include:

1. Asynchronous Updates: Data updates propagate asynchronously passim nan distributed system’s replicas aliases nodes. This tin origin delays betwixt executing a alteration and having it reflected connected each copies of nan data.
2. Network Partitions: Network partitions aliases failures whitethorn hap owed to unforeseen reasons, preventing updates from propagating to each replicas aliases resulting successful discrepancies crossed replicas owing to incomplete updates.
3. Conflicting Operations: Concurrent operations connected nan aforesaid information from galore nodes mightiness origin conflicts that are not adequately handled, resulting successful inconsistent aliases damaged data.

To hole specified issues, it’s important to leverage Microservice patterns specified arsenic nan Saga Pattern to create and negociate distributed transactions successful your microservices.

Tight coupling whitethorn not beryllium seen arsenic an anti-pattern connected its ain but a cardinal characteristic successful galore anti-patterns that we looked astatine previously. However, having microservices heavy limited connected each different aliases their outputs whitethorn origin issues wrong nan strategy erstwhile scaling up.

This contributes to galore anti-patterns specified arsenic but not constricted to:

1. Monolithic Architecture
2. Spaghetti Architecture
3. God Object
4. Distributed Data Inconsistency
5. Vendor Lock-in

This is simply a lawsuit wherever nan exertion does not supply capable penetration into nan soul state, operations, and performance. It makes it challenging for developers aliases administrators to observe nan capacity of nan exertion aliases moreover to efficiently troubleshoot an issue.

Key characteristics of nan “lack of observability” anti-pattern include:

1. Limited Logging: The strategy lacks broad logging mechanisms to seizure important events, errors, and actions that hap wrong it. This makes it harder to trace nan execution travel and place problems.
2. Inadequate Metrics: The strategy does not supply useful metrics aliases telemetry information connected its performance, assets use, and different important indicators. Without this information, it is difficult to measure nan system’s wellness and place imaginable bottlenecks aliases areas for improvement.
3. Sparse Tracing: The strategy lacks distributed tracing capabilities for search nan travel of requests and transactions crossed galore services aliases components. This makes it harder to observe capacity spikes, latency concerns, and breakdowns successful distributed systems.

Consider utilizing unreality autochthonal devices for illustration AWS X-Ray aliases 3rd statement platforms for illustration New Relic.

By doing so, you tin get cardinal insights into strategy errors and place capacity and scalability issues successful a proactive manner.

This is erstwhile nan superior extremity is focused connected gathering method objectives and deadlines without adequately considering nan effect connected nan well-being, morale, and work-life equilibrium of nan squad aliases individuals progressive successful nan project.

Key characteristics of nan “ignoring nan quality cost” antipattern include:

1. Overworking: Team members are often forced to activity extended hours, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, to fulfill task deadlines aliases resoluteness unanticipated challenges. This tin origin burnout, weariness, and decreased productivity.
2. Unrealistic Expectations: Project timelines and deliverables are defined without respect for nan team’s existing resources, skills, aliases capabilities. This creates unreasonable expectations and puts unnecessary unit connected squad members to execute nether tight deadlines.
3. Micromanagement: Managers aliases squad leaders usage excessive power aliases micromanagement complete squad members’ work, which undermines autonomy, creativity, and drive.
4. Lack of Support: When confronted pinch problems aliases difficulties astatine work, squad members consciousness unsupported by guidance aliases colleagues. This tin summation emotions of loneliness, tension, and disengagement.

We’ve looked astatine immoderate of nan astir communal anti-patterns that tin beryllium seen wrong organizations that are either conscionable starting pinch their microservice travel aliases are evolving their practices from much accepted architectures.

These anti-patterns not only create bottlenecks successful applications but besides origin them to underperform and clang owed to nan various constraints that are introduced owed to malpractices followed.

Therefore we must debar specified issues to guarantee that our microservice architectures execute arsenic intended by enabling scalability, elasticity and resilience.

I dream you person recovered this helpful.

Thank you for reading!