Microservices vs. Web Services Part 2
By: Ayo Oladele
Tags: Microservices, Software Engineering, Mobile App Development, Web App Development, Web Development

Continued

Before the era of web services and microservices, software engineers have always been in the pursuit to build perfect information systems and automated solutions. Trailing on old technologies have inspired new ones by adapting and improving on existing systems.

Ever wonder why web services and microservices rival? Software engineers have always been in the pursuit to build perfect information systems and automated solutions.

Structure

Microservices is an architectural style built usually for business capabilities. At the same time, it can be integrated into a web service. Nevertheless, microservices can be a stand-alone service or a function that has its own database and can be implemented and deployed independently of other services.

Web services is a service provided from one application to another through the World Wide Web. As an API representation through HTTP, it is an abstraction layer that separates between a platform and the specific programming details of how the application code is really called to function.

Size

Web services mostly include a lot of business functions. They are usually implemented as complete subsystems making the whole system larger.

On the contrary, “micro” services, as the name implies, refers to smaller internal components with limited functionality. The implication is that they are more compact than web services.

Bounded Context

Web services allow the sharing of components while microservices are limited in sharing by bounded context. A bounded context is simply the joining of a component and its data as a single unit with low dependency.

Since web services depend on multiple services to carry out a business request, a system built on web services has a tendency to be slower than microservices.

Interoperability

Through its messaging middleware component, web services enhance the use of several heterogeneous protocols. Microservices differs by reducing the number of choices for integration by having a simple architectural pattern.

Pros and Cons of Microservices and Web Services

What are the advantages and disadvantages of web services and microservices? Let us take a look at some critical factors for judgment such as fail-safety and customization.

Fail-Safety

Both web services and microservices solutions promote fail-safety management in business applications without any form of downtime in performance. They are the best replacements for monolithic app structure as they function separately, yet with an interconnected set of components.

Every microservice or web service connects to a separate data source. The simultaneous use of an application’s multiple features means that its structure can execute several user requests. This can lead to an app crashing if there is heavy traffic of active users.

A request may be handled by a single microservice or a handful of collaborating microservices. Moreover, since each microservice has its own database, the load of the system can be evenly distributed across different databases. Although web services provide a neutral point of balance between scaling accessibility and fail-safety level microservices scale much better.

Customization

Customization of the initial monolithic software structure is also a factor even if you decide to decentralize it. There is always a challenge with some components that can be made into microservices. These components will not work independently inside an existing functionality. It is better to reprogram them from scratch. This is why such components provided as web services is a complex but better solution.

To be Microservices or not to be Web Services

Which is the best for my project you may finally ask yourself? Here goes the analysis to show which of the API representation tools are of the best in different situations.

Requirements will always be the primary determiner in choosing the ideal architecture for any type of project. It is not professional to outrightly say that one architecture is superior to the other. The main reason for a choice should be the purpose of the application in question.

Small desktop and mobile applications don’t use microservices architecture or web services because there is no need for a network connection. In situations like this, software development is less demanding to make and can be produced in a short time frame.

For more complex software projects, with the need for communication over a network, web service is a good professional choice. It works well for bigger and complex enterprise application environments due to the integration with several other applications.

Microservices, are best for smaller and well-partitioned, web-based systems. Additionally, if you are a developer working on a mobile or web application, then it is better to use microservices as it gives better control.

Haven considered all the facts we have discoursed, we can conclude that both, microservices and web services, serve different uses and are therefore different types of architectures. In a more practical sense, a software solution can actually function with the combinational use of microservices and web services simultaneously.

Finally, the development process for a critical project must be with some scrutiny. The choice of the best architecture for your software project is a top priority from the go. It is an important decision that determines if the project will be a success, how much time it will take, the validity of testing, and the release of a well-robust product.

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