Are Microservices Distributed Systems?

Microservices are a type of distributed system because they consist of multiple services running on different machines or containers that communicate with each other over a network. Each microservice operates independently and typically performs a specific business function. These services interact with each other through APIs or messaging protocols, allowing them to work together to fulfill the requirements of an application.

Some of the key points to understand how microservices are distributed systems:

• Decentralized Control
  • In a microservices architecture, each service operates autonomously and is responsible for its own data storage, processing, and communication.
  • This decentralized control is a fundamental characteristic of distributed systems, where individual components make local decisions to achieve overall system goals.
• Network Communication
  • Microservices communicate with each other over a network, typically using lightweight protocols such as HTTP, TCP/IP, or messaging queues.
  • This network communication enables services to interact with one another, exchange data, and coordinate their activities, mirroring the communication patterns found in distributed systems.
• Scalability and Elasticity
  • Distributed systems, including microservices, often exhibit the ability to scale horizontally by adding more instances of individual services to handle increased load.
  • This scalability allows applications to accommodate growing user bases or sudden spikes in traffic by distributing the workload across multiple instances of services running on different machines or containers.
• Fault Tolerance
  • Microservices architecture promotes fault tolerance by isolating failures to individual services rather than the entire system.
  • If one microservice fails or becomes unavailable, other services can continue to function independently, ensuring that the system as a whole remains operational.
  • This resilience to failures is a characteristic shared with distributed systems, where redundancy and fault isolation are essential principles.
• Complexity and Interdependence
  • As the number of microservices grows within an application, managing their interactions and dependencies becomes increasingly complex.
  • This complexity arises from the need to coordinate communication between services, ensure data consistency across distributed databases, and handle cross-cutting concerns such as security and monitoring.
  • These challenges are inherent to distributed systems, where managing the interactions between decentralized components is a key concern.