Microservices vs Service-Oriented Architecture

by Mark Richards

For anyone who has been developing web applications for 10 years or more, the recent rise of microservices sounds a lot like a development approach we already knew – service oriented architecture (SOA). Both architectures are focused on breaking up large monolithic applications into collections of smaller independent services, and both come with the promise of simplifying development.

So, what sets them apart? Are microservices really just “SOA done right”? How do the two approaches differ? More importantly, are microservices really better than SOA, or are we doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past?

Genres: Programming, Technology, Technical, Computer Science, Software, Nonfiction, Architecture

55 pages, ebook

Published January 1, 2015

About the author

There are multiple authors with this name in this data base. This one is Mark^^^Richards.

Reviews

[Ahmad hosseini · Rating 4 out of 5]

A small and compact book that talks about microservices and SOA. By studying it, you will learn the
basics of each of these architectures and core differences between them in terms of the architecture style, architecture characteristics, service characteristics, and capabilities. By using the information in this book, you will know how these two architecture styles differ from each other and which of the two is best suited for your particular situation.

[Tomas Smagurauskas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The idea to compare microservice and SOA architectural styles is good, but the book is not easy to follow at all.

The single most important difference between microservices and SOA that this book present is that SOA has "messaging middleware". And the biggest problem is that it's not clearly explained what the "messaging middleware" is, and as a reader you have to gather and assembly that information from various small bits and pieces.

Once you manage to understand that the "messaging middleware" is some sort of central proxy/adapter component that all other components communicate through, the book starts making way more sense.

[Peter Rybarczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cons:
Maybe it's just me, as I haven't got any experience with SOA architecture before, but this book was really hard to follow, and there could be a bit more explanations for basic concepts. But besides that is a good book.

Pros
I've learned a bit about SOA, core differences between microservices and basic use-cases. What's pretty important, the author added links to articles, books, and videos where I can find more information if needed. As I work with microservices for some time, there was nothing new for me.

In summary
A good introduction, short and compacted with knowledge. Worth reading, but do not have some great expectations.

[Luís Soares · Rating 4 out of 5]

A clear, simple and concise summary/comparison on microservices vs SOA. Can serve as a nice introduction to "Building Microservices" (O'Reilly). Perfect if you're new to these subjects and/or software architecture. Just missing a bit of history and more structured information and it'd be a 5. I recommend it.

[Lena Rakhimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has a very good in-depth description why SOA is good and comparison what micro services are missing. Thought it hardly describes the disadvantages of SOA and why microservices became more popular. In addition to this book I would recommend to read other book focused on microservices.

[TXReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent illustrations. Interesting that the book never defines the term "microservices" and keeps focusing on its characteristics.

[Cédric Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a book, more a report/introduction to, easy to read, not going too much in details

[Catalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good report, a short and concise introduction into the micro services and SOA

[Shenyu · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the greatest difference between SOA and microservices is the existence of middlewares?

[Khaled Al-Ansari · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great report on the differences between two major architectural patterns in modern software development, it is well organized and summarized in a good way. It is good for beginners and play as a nice refreshers for seniors and veterans since those people already know the content of the book haha. Finally if you are expecting any kind of implementation please don't, this is an overview for the two styles without any implementation or talk about languages.

[Stijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lightweight overview of Server-Oriented Architectures and Microservice Architectures -- good for a first contact with the topic. It refers to Building Microservices for a more in-depth treatment.

[Geert · Rating 2 out of 5]

The questions raised and structure provided are very good.

Definitely interesting.

However, I do not agree with a lot of the answers to the questions and structure.

[Zbyszek Sokolowski · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is short booklet kind of report which shows basic differences between SOA and Microservices patterns. I hope that book coming from Manning from Mark Richards will be easier to read and better. Some qorhty quotations:

Contract versioning allows you to roll out new service features that involve contract changes and at the same time provide backward compatibility for service consumers that are still using prior contracts.

A component is a unit of software that has a well-defined interface and a well-defined set of roles and responsibilities.

Microservices and SOA are inherently different when it comes to sharing components. SOA is built on the concept of a share-as-much-as-possible architecture style, whereas microservices architecture is built on the concept of a share-as-little-as-possible architecture style.

[Betty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not for anyone who wants to know more about microservices and SOA. It's kind of an interesting leaflet. The whole hype about microservices is mentioned but not explained but the sources cited in the book are to be checked out.