When to Use Microservices
Microservices are not always the answer. Consider them when:
- Your team has grown beyond 2-3 squads
- Different parts of your system have different scaling requirements
- You need to deploy components independently
Service Decomposition
Bounded Contexts
Use Domain-Driven Design to identify service boundaries.
Communication Patterns
Synchronous: REST/gRPC
For real-time queries and commands.
Asynchronous: Events
For cross-service notifications.
Data Management
Database per Service
Each service owns its data. Never share databases between services.
Saga Pattern
For distributed transactions, use sagas with compensating actions.
Observability
Every service must expose:
- Health checks: /healthz, /readyz
- Metrics: Request rate, error rate, latency (RED metrics)
- Tracing: Distributed trace context propagation
Conclusion
Microservices are a powerful pattern when applied correctly. Start with a monolith, extract services as you identify clear boundaries.