Migrating to Microservices Architecture with Time Machine®

Submitted by Kathy on Mon, 2024-04-15 22:45

SANTA CLARA, CA. Monday, April 15, 2023 at 12:00 PM EDT

Topic

Microservices architecture, often referred to as microservices, is an architectural approach to application development. The essence of this approach is dividing large, monolithic applications into smaller lightweight, self-contained units that can function and communicate independently.

It is the most used approach to developing cloud applications today.

Traditional monolithic architecture, where all software components of an application are contained together, has several limitations, like lack of flexibility and reliability, and is difficult to scale.

The microservices approach addresses those limitations, since applications are deconstructed and separated into smaller units (microservices), that the client can access via APIs. Usually, each microservice handles a type of functionality within an application. For example, one could take care of logins, one can create the UI, while a third one could communicate with the database that would store the user data.

Using microservices approach in application development offers many benefits.

  • Thanks to the autonomous nature of microservices, different teams of developers can work in parallel on different components/functionalities of the application. That’s why it’s much easier to scale independently from the rest of the application, and make changes when needed.
  • Isolating a potential error-ridden microservice is easy since the whole application is divided into standalone, fully functional software units. Then the development teams can work on one microservice to fix errors and redeploy it without redeploying the entire application.
  • Microservices architectures are more resilient, because if one microservice fails, the rest of the application could continue working, although part of its function might be unavailable.
  • With microservices approach, developers have the ability to choose a technology stack that is best suited for each particular microservice and its functions, instead of having to go with one standardized tech stack for all of the application’s functions.
  • These autonomous services require relatively less infrastructure than monolithic applications, because you’re able to choose the precise scalability for selected components, according to their exact requirements.

Today, most of the cloud-native applications are built as microservices by leveraging containers, where containers host the individual microservices that constitute an application

There are several reasons why containers are commonly used with microservices:

  • Containers usually start very quickly, so it's easier to make full use of the agility of microservices.
  • Containers provide isolation for each containerized microservice, so there’s less risk that a security vulnerability can be exploited.
  • It is much simpler for microservices to be located and communicate with each other, as well to be orchestrated when they all run in containers that are managed in the same cluster.

When migrating from monolithic applications to microservices, whether by redeveloping everything from scratch or transitioning from the existing code, the important part of the migration process is making sure that your date and time sensitive business logic is behaving correctly.

Using Time Machine for Containers you can easily and efficiently perform any kind of time shift testing and confirm that your time-sensitive application logic is functioning properly in any of your testing scenarios.

Besides time shift testing your microservices, with Time Machine Sync Server you can also synchronize time travelling of your containerized targets with legacy applications, which can be especially important if you’re in a transitioning period, where a part of your newly created environments still co-exists both inside containers and in the old traditional architecture.

Furthermore, all of the testing can be fully automated using the built-in API that TM Sync Server provides. Regardless of the programing language used and automation frameworks you choose, integrating Time Machine API calls in your testing automation will be a breeze.

If you only want to test a single part of your application, you can also have as much flexibility as to choose which of your microservices will be affected by virtual time, and which will remain on system time, or even have multiple virtual times affecting different microservices.

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About Time Machine

Time Machine saves ten-fold or more on resources and costs associated with temporal testing of applications. It enables you to finish your large scale software projects on time and under budget. Some other usage scenarios of Time Machine include Cloud migration, time zone adjustment, data aging, Big Data analysis and online training. Time Machine is the original date and time simulation software for Unix and Windows since 1997 and it is Cloud ready. Thousands of customers worldwide utilize Time Machine successfully across all industries on a daily basis; including 47 of the Fortune 100 companies.

About Solution-Soft

Solution-Soft is the leader in virtual clock, time shift testing software solutions for the ever changing digital world. Our flagship and market proven product, Time Machine, opened up brand new possibilities in the application testing landscape upon its release in 1997. Today, thousands of applications have been tested with Time Machine, and IT professionals recognize that using a virtual clock is the ideal and safest way to conduct date and time testing. As pioneer in our field, we've created the Time Machine Product Suite, a collection of cutting-edge testing software that augment Time Machine to further streamline enterprise cloud initiatives and IT simplification. The product suite offers a complete solution for end-to-end application testing, cloud migration, test automation, Agile/DevOPs, Continuous Operation, and Test Data Management. We proudly provide our 2000+ domestic and international customers, including 47 of Fortune 100 companies, our advanced solutions to optimize their testing and help deliver projects on-time. Solution-Soft's customers are across all market sectors including 3M, AMEX, Australia Tax Office, BBC, Boeing, British Gas, Covered California, Discover, Fed Ex, Federal Reserve Bank, French Telecom, National Australia Bank, and Zurich Insurance. We bolster our market presence through robust partnerships with companies including Accenture, Capgemini, Citrix, Delphix, DXC, FICO, HPE, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Red Hat and SAP.

Founded in 1993, Solution-Soft is privately held and based in Santa Clara, CA, for more information visit www.solution-soft.com or call +1.408.346.1400.

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