Towards an Understanding of Microservices
It addresses the selection of architectural approaches for business analysts and enterprise architects, but is incremental as it primarily compares existing concepts.
The paper compares microservices architecture with Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to identify key characteristics that help application designers choose the best approach for scalable and flexible applications, particularly in domains like IoT.
Microservices architectures are a departure from traditional Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Influenced by Domain Driven Design (DDD), microservices architectures aim to help business analysts and enterprise architects develop scalable applications that embody flexibility for new functionalities as businesses develop, such as scenarios in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. This article compares microservices architecture with SOA and identifies key characteristics that will assist application designers to select the most appropriate approach.