Enterprise organizations are increasingly facing operational failures and high costs due to poorly planned transitions from monolithic systems to microservices.
Balancing microservices and monoliths
When transitioning to microservices, enterprise organizations often face operational complexity and the challenge of a distributed monolith. Prematurely splitting a system before business domains are fully validated leads to a loss of transactional integrity and complicates updates. Experts recommend a "monolith-first" approach, as it avoids complex eventual consistency models at the start of a project.
The modular monolith as a rational step
The optimal alternative is a modular monolith—designing the system as a single unit with clear separation of components at the code level. This allows domain boundaries to stabilize without network overhead. Extracting modules into separate services is only advisable when independent scaling is required.
Design and assessment standards
To ensure system viability regardless of the chosen architecture, developers apply 12-Factor App principles, particularly stateless design. To assess architectural risks, they use the AWS Well-Architected Framework, which evaluates systems across six pillars: reliability, security, performance efficiency, cost optimization, operational excellence, and sustainability.
Practical development tools
A pragmatic approach is exemplified by the use of the UnityBase low-code platform from the Intecracy Group consortium. The platform is based on a domain metadata model, automatically generates REST APIs, and supports various DBMSs via a built-in ORM. This allows combining the flexibility of a modular architecture with a high level of security and access control.
Implications for business
Prematurely splitting a system before business domains are fully validated leads to a loss of transactional integrity, complex updates, and high network overhead. This operational complexity can stall product development and compromise system security and reliability.
A practical checklist
- Start with a monolith: Use a "monolith-first" approach or a modular monolith to let domain boundaries stabilize.
- Apply industry standards: Implement 12-Factor App principles, especially stateless design, and evaluate risks using the AWS Well-Architected Framework.
- Utilize low-code tools: Adopt platforms like UnityBase to automatically generate REST APIs and maintain a high level of security.
Prepared by a Software Ukraine member. Original publication.