Microservice Design Patterns

Introduction

This page is to provide an override of microservice design patterns

Database Per Service - Popular

This pattern ensures each microservice has its own database, reducing dependencies and enabling scalability. It prevents cross-service data issues but requires careful synchronization strategies. Widely used in microservices architecture, companies like Netflix and Amazon implement this to ensure service autonomy.

API Gateway Highly Popular

An API Gateway acts as a single entry point for client requests, routing them to appropriate microservices while handling authentication, rate limiting, and caching. It simplifies management and security. Popular solutions like AWS API Gateway, Kong, and NGINX are widely adopted by enterprises.

Backend For Frontend (BFF) Gaining Popularity

BFF is a specialized API layer that tailors backend responses for specific front-end clients, improving efficiency and user experience. It is commonly used in multi-platform applications by companies like Spotify and Netflix to optimize performance.

CQRS - Moderately Popular

CQRS separates read and write operations into different models, improving scalability and performance. This is particularly useful for event-driven applications and high-traffic systems. It’s widely used in banking, e-commerce, and real-time applications.

Event Sourcing - Niche

Instead of storing only the current state, event sourcing logs all state changes as events. This ensures auditability and allows time-travel debugging. Popular in financial systems and blockchain-based applications, it’s used by companies like Uber and Walmart.

Saga - Popular in distributed systems

The Saga pattern manages distributed transactions in microservices through a series of compensating actions, ensuring consistency without locking resources. Common in e-commerce and banking, it’s used by businesses like Shopify and PayPal.

Sidecar Highly Popular in Cloud-Native Apps

Sidecar deploys auxiliary services alongside main applications, enhancing observability, security, and networking without modifying the core service. It’s a key component of service meshes like Istio and Linkerd, widely used in Kubernetes deployments.

Circuit Breaker - Very Popular

A circuit breaker prevents system failures by detecting faults and stopping requests to failing services, allowing recovery. Netflix popularized this with Hystrix, and it remains a best practice in resilient microservice architectures.

Database Per Service,API Gateway,BFF,CQRS,Event Sourcing,Saga,Sidecar,Circuit Breaker