RabbitMQ and Microservices

Managing a complex, monolithic enterprise application could be more difficult than it might seem. This type of architecture puts a heavy load on developer teams, QA’s and project managers to be fully in agreement before adding to the codebase of a stable system. This to avoid code breaks or a system crashes which, in the worst case, will affect the whole architecture.

An increasing number of organizations are now going down the microservices road because it allows them to have a more agile approach to software development and maintenance. Microservices also make it easy for businesses to scale and deliver updated versions of their software.

Unlike a monolithic application, where all functionalities are presented within a single module, a microservice application divides different functionalities across different modules. Within such a modular architecture, different modules/services that offer various functionalities, are coupled together to form a software application, as robust as any application built monolithic. Microservices also make it easy for businesses to scale and deliver updated versions of software weekly, instead of yearly.

Benefits of a microservice architecture

• Development and maintenance made easier Imagine that you have to build a huge, bulky billing application which will involve authentication, authorization, charging and reporting of transactions. If you divide your application across multiple services (one for each functionality), you will be able to separate the responsibilities and also give developers the freedom to write code for a specific service in any chosen language; something that a monolithic application can’t provide. Additionally, it will also be easier to maintain written code or make changes to the system. For example, if you are asked to update your authentication scheme, you will only have to add code to the authentication module and test it, without having to worry about disrupting any other functionalities.
• Fault isolation: Another obvious advantage offered by a microservice architecture is its ability to isolate the fault to a single module. For example, if your reporting service is down, your authentication and billing services will still be up, ensuring that your customers can perform important transactions even when they aren’t able to view reports.
• Enhanced levels of speed and productivity: Microservices is all about fragmenting applications into manageable modules and functionalities that are easy to maintain. Different developers can work on different modules at the same time. In addition to the development cycle, the testing phase is also sped up by the use of microservices, as you can test each microservice on its own to determine the readiness of the overall system.
• Improved scalability: Microservices also allow you to scale effortlessly and at will. If you want to add new components to just one service, you can do that without changing any of the other services. You can also deploy the more resource-intensive services across multiple servers.
• Easy to understand: Another advantage offered by a microservice application is the ease of understandability. Since each module represents a single functionality, getting to know the relevant details becomes easier and faster. For example, if you have hired a consultant for your charging services, they don’t have to understand the whole system in order to offer you insight; they only have to familiarize themselves with one module to do so.

The role of message queuing in a microservice architecture.

Typically, in a microservice architecture, there are cross-dependencies, which entail that no single service can perform its functionalities without getting help from other services. This is where it’s crucial for your system to have a mechanism in place which allows services to keep in touch with each other without getting blocked by responses. Message queuing fulfills this purpose by providing a means for services to push messages to a queue asynchronously and ensure that they get delivered to the correct destination. To implement message queuing, you need a message broker; think of it as a mailman, who takes mail from a sender and delivers it to the correct destination.

Message Broker RabbitMQ

RabbitMQ is one of the most widely used message brokers, with over 35,000 production deployments worldwide and is considered of the most reliable message brokers available. RabbitMQ acts like the message broker “mailman” a microservice architecture need.

We recommend you reading:

RabbitMQ for Beginners for a deeper understanding of RabbitMQ and it’s functionalities. And if you´re seeking for the perfect message broker to match your needs we recommend reading: RabbitMQ vs. Apache Kafka

CloudAMQP; fully managed RabbitMQ clusters.

CloudAMQP automates every part of the setup, running and scaling of RabbitMQ clusters and is available on all major cloud and application platforms all over the world. This makes it easier for companies by removing responsibility for server management and monitoring of RabbitMQ clusters, developers just have to develop!