Adopting Microservices at Netflix: Lessons for Architectural Design
In some recent blog posts, we’ve explained why we believe it’s crucial to adopt a four‑tier application architecture in which applications are developed and deployed as sets of microservices.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that if you keep using development
processes and application architectures that worked just fine ten years
ago, you simply can’t move fast enough to capture and hold the interest
of mobile users who can choose from an ever‑growing number of apps.
Switching to a microservices architecture creates exciting opportunities in the marketplace for companies. For system architects and developers, it promises an unprecedented level of control and speed as they deliver innovative new web experiences to customers. But at such a breathless pace, it can feel like there’s not a lot of room for error. In the real world, you can’t stop developing and deploying your apps as you retool the processes for doing so. You know that your future success depends on transitioning to a microservices architecture, but how do you actually do it?
Fortunately for us, several early adopters of microservices are now generously sharing their expertise in the spirit of open source, not only in the form of published code but in conference presentations and blog posts. Netflix is a leading example. As the Director of Web Engineering and then Cloud Architect, Adrian Cockcroft oversaw the company’s transition from a traditional development model with 100 engineers producing a monolithic DVD‑rental application to a microservices architecture with many small teams responsible for the end‑to‑end development of hundreds of microservices that work together to stream digital entertainment to millions of Netflix customers every day. Now a Technology Fellow at Battery Ventures, Cockcroft is a prominent evangelist for microservices and cloud‑native architectures, and serves on the NGINX Technical Advisory Board.
In a two‑part series of blog posts, we’ll present top takeaways from two talks that Cockcroft delivered last year, at the first annual NGINX conference in October and at a Silicon Valley Microservices Meetup a couple months earlier. (The complete video recordings are also well worth watching.)
Switching to a microservices architecture creates exciting opportunities in the marketplace for companies. For system architects and developers, it promises an unprecedented level of control and speed as they deliver innovative new web experiences to customers. But at such a breathless pace, it can feel like there’s not a lot of room for error. In the real world, you can’t stop developing and deploying your apps as you retool the processes for doing so. You know that your future success depends on transitioning to a microservices architecture, but how do you actually do it?
Fortunately for us, several early adopters of microservices are now generously sharing their expertise in the spirit of open source, not only in the form of published code but in conference presentations and blog posts. Netflix is a leading example. As the Director of Web Engineering and then Cloud Architect, Adrian Cockcroft oversaw the company’s transition from a traditional development model with 100 engineers producing a monolithic DVD‑rental application to a microservices architecture with many small teams responsible for the end‑to‑end development of hundreds of microservices that work together to stream digital entertainment to millions of Netflix customers every day. Now a Technology Fellow at Battery Ventures, Cockcroft is a prominent evangelist for microservices and cloud‑native architectures, and serves on the NGINX Technical Advisory Board.
In a two‑part series of blog posts, we’ll present top takeaways from two talks that Cockcroft delivered last year, at the first annual NGINX conference in October and at a Silicon Valley Microservices Meetup a couple months earlier. (The complete video recordings are also well worth watching.)
- This post defines microservices architecture and outlines some best practices for designing one.
- Adopting Microservices at Netflix: Lessons for Team and Process Design discusses why and how to adopt a new mindset for software development and reorganize your teams around it.
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