Microservices

Microservices is an architectural style that structures an application as a collection of small, autonomous services, each built around a specific business capability. In contrast to a traditional monolithic architecture where the entire application is a single, unified unit, microservices are loosely coupled, independently deployable, and can be developed and scaled individually. This approach allows teams to use different technology stacks for different services and promotes resilience, as the failure of one service does not necessarily cause the entire application to fail, enabling more agile development and deployment cycles for large, complex systems.

1. Introduction to Microservices
   1. Defining Microservices
      1. Historical Context and Evolution
      2. Key Terminology
   2. Core Characteristics
      1. Small and Focused Services
         1. Service Scope and Boundaries
         2. Benefits of Small Services
      2. Autonomous and Independent Services
         1. Service Independence
         2. Deployment Autonomy
      3. Business Capability Oriented
         1. Alignment with Business Domains
         2. Ownership by Cross-Functional Teams
      4. Loosely Coupled Services
         1. Low Inter-Service Dependencies
         2. Interface Contracts
      5. Independently Deployable Units
         1. Deployment Pipelines
         2. Versioning and Backward Compatibility
   3. Microservices vs. Monolithic Architecture
      1. Key Differences
         1. Codebase Structure
         2. Deployment Models
         3. Scalability Approaches
         4. Team Organization
      2. Advantages of Microservices
         1. Scalability Benefits
         2. Technology Stack Flexibility
         3. Fault Isolation
         4. Faster Time to Market
      3. Disadvantages and Challenges
         1. Increased System Complexity
         2. Distributed System Challenges
         3. Operational Overhead
         4. Data Management Complexity
   4. Microservices vs. Service-Oriented Architecture
      1. Architectural Differences
      2. Technology Stack Differences
      3. Governance and Communication Models
   5. When to Use Microservices
      1. Large and Complex Systems
      2. Independent Scaling Requirements
      3. Organizational Readiness Assessment
   6. When to Avoid Microservices
      1. Small Teams or Simple Applications
      2. Lack of DevOps Maturity
      3. Insufficient Automation Infrastructure