Sample MIS604 Microservices Architecture Report

MIS604 Microservices Architecture Report Sample

Assessment Task

This research paper should be approximately 2500 words (+/- 10%) excluding cover page, references and appendix. In this assessment, you need to present the different issues that have been previously documented on the topic using a variety of research articles and industry examples. Please make sure your discussion matches the stated purpose of the report and include the cases study throughout.

Discuss and support any conclusions that can be reached using the evidence provided by the research articles you have found. Details about the different industry cases studies should NOT be a standalone section of the paper.

Context

The microservicesis one of the most rapidly expanding architectural paradigms in commercial computing today. It delivers the fundamental benefits of integrating processes, optimization and Instructions delivering efficiency across many areas. These are core benefits expected in any implementation and the MSA is primarily configured to provide the functional business needs.

On-the-one-hand, MSA can be leverage to provide further benefits for a business by facilitating:

- Innovation— reflecting the creation of novel or different services or businesses processes, or even disruptive business models.

- Augmented Reality — reflecting the situation where superimposing images and data on real objects allowing people to be better informed.

- Supply chain— reflecting how the MSA enables closer communication, engagement and interactivity amongst important external or internal entities.

On-the-other-hand culture is the totality of socially transmitted behaviour patterns, attitudes, values and beliefs, and it is these predominating values and behaviours that characterize the functioning of an individual, group or organisation. Organizational culture is what makes employees feel like they belong and what encourages them to work collectively to achieve organizational goals. Extant IS implementation studies have adopted culture theory to explain how organisations respond to implement a MSA system in their workplace, and how these responses lead to successful or failed implementations.

As a professional, your role will require that you understand the benefits of MSA, especially in these three areas, which are significantly becoming the preferred strategy to achieve competitive advantage for many organisations. The purpose of this report is to engage you in building knowledge about how these benefits achieve in an organisational environment with a specific focus on how and why organisational culture can influence the successful implementation of an MSA within an organisation.

Solution

Introduction

Microservice Architecture (MSA) has evolved from Service Oriented Architecture (OSA). For the most part, microservices are smaller and more focused than the big "services" from the 2000s. A very well-made interface is exposed by these apps, which are hosted and made available over through the network. For Assignment Help Using a so-called “RPC," other programmes can access this interface (Remote Procedural Call)(Fernández-García et al., 2017). Around 2,200 key microservices, dubbed "Domain-Oriented Microservice Architecture," have been added to Uber's infrastructure (DOMA). This paper presents the views on how Uber utilized Microservices to bring performance, agility and scalability in their organization while focusing on three key tenets specifically Supply Chain, Augmented Reality and Innovation. Furthermore, the importance of culture and how culture affects MSA adoption is also discussed in the paper.
Microservices for Uber

Innovation

Today's customers are extremely empowered, driven, and self-determinant. They are fast to choose the greatest sophisticated and / or the cheapest choice since they have all the information and computational power they need at their disposal. As a result, they should be regarded as "internal" customers. Consumers aren't any longer satisfied with the IT department's clunky and restricting software. In that same respect, a customer will not find it pleasing to use an application that allows him to book a cab, but rather than getting it done quickly, ends up taking longer than making a phone call. As a result of their success, high-performing enterprises were three times more inclined to pursue first-mover edge(Fernández-García et al., 2017). For example, starting a news website is far easier than starting a newspaper. The inability to acknowledge the value of speed, flexibility, and agility would have a significant negative influence on a company's capacity to thrive(Ghirotti et al., 2018).

Uber, on the other hand, would be constrained by its monolithic architecture to make significant modifications to their system depending on client demand because of their design:

- Expensive and time-consuming

- Too inflexible to change and as a result, too sluggish to take advantage of the situation

- There are times when no one individual can fully comprehend the structure, even though this is virtually a need.

- Because they aren't built to open standards, the skill pools available to companies are rather limited.

- As a result of the difficulty of managing these systems, users are compelled to find alternative means of getting business accomplished outside certain systems (frequently sticking with more laborious manual and prone to human error methods including in the case of Uber, booking a cab with phone calls or opting for a traditional Taxi/Cab).

Apart from the above, traditional Monolithic architecture would limit Uber because it would be hard to customize and any changes to brought into the system would result in a high failure rate as a lot of elements would need to be unshackled.

The current system at Uber was large and homogenous as a new release of any one small feature required the release of the entire system, thus presenting a risk to their systems as a whole. The proliferation of mobile devices only exacerbated this dilemma, with multiple types of devices, models and operating systems to manage as an Uber Passenger could be holding any of the 1000s of type of mobile devices being in use today. Similarly, Amazon was unable to quickly implement new features because of the large number of developers distributed around the company. Customers were unable to use any important code updates for weeks since they were blocked in the deployment process. Amazon's pipeline was simplified and shortened because to the introduction of microservices. A service-oriented design enables developers to identify bottlenecks, identify the characteristics of these slowdowns, and reconstruct them as a small team devoted to each service, overall resulting in innovation.

Figure 1 - Uber Microservices (Gluck, 2020)

APIs, which serve as that of the "contract" linking microservices, are quite a critical mechanism for liberating out of monoliths. Uber's trade balance and exchange info microservice, for instance, might be used to illustrate this point. Uber will not be capable to meet riders in over 60 currencies across the world if the application was "cobbled" altogether as in monoliths, which would hinder true innovation and limit actual revenue potential(He & Yang, 2017).

Augmented Reality

The branch of computer science known as "augmented reality" (AR) deals with the integration of real-world data with that created by computers. The augmented reality tech may be utilised on mobile devices, including such smart phones, as well as personal computers. If an Uber driver, one may use the app to assist customers locate their cars more quickly, or the other way around. When it comes to picking up passengers from their destinations, the Uber app uses integrated Augmented Reality Control Module (ARCM) to aid passengers in meeting up with drivers who are available. Trip request data, including pick-up position, drop-off destination, and sometimes even departure timing if it's a planned ride will be sent to Uber by user. Based on one’s trip request, Uber would then match passengers with various local drivers and provide the pick-up information to the first driver whoever agrees. Uber tracks the driver's progress as he or she approaches the pick-up spot. Once you've arrived within a predetermined distance of the pickup point, Uber would send a notification to your phone instructing it to broadcast a live stream from ones device ’s camera. Uber then uses image recognition to detect whether the driver is available in the live video stream depending on the driver's information, such as the vehicle's make, type, colour, and registration. By computing a vehicle value, which is also dependent on driver characteristics, a trained machine predicts that an oncoming or halted car is ones cab. On top of that, Uber uses augmented reality (AR) features on the live broadcast to identify an incoming car as a taxi.

Figure 2 - Uber AR Patent (Patent Yogi, 2019)

The aforementioned architecture can be implemented using a 4-Tier architecture comprising of Designer, Supplier, Intelligence and Customer Tier.

Customer Tier

In order to govern events including such examining virtual furniture, speaking with designers, or placing orders, there is a management piece on the consumer tier. There are a number of subcomponents that allow for the exploring and displaying of available cabs under the controller. There are several different types of markers, all of which are printed on the same sheet of paper. Marker form and location might be captured and recognised by a smart device ’s camera. The visualization component uses the marker to display the cab. The communication component allows customers and designers to connect with one another either orally, via video pictures, or via a live videoconference. There are several uses for this component, including communication as well as capturing markers.

Designer Service Tier

Service containers incorporate the services that perhaps the system delivers to designers, such as rendering, viewing, and web services, in a single location. System, design service tier, as well as customer tier data are sent between the information processer as well as the data processer's info tiers.

Supplier Service Tier

The characteristics of controller, communication, service container, as well as information processor make up the supplier service tier, just as the designer service tier. The operations of the elements are comparable to others on the designer service tier, although they may be used for other purposes. This might include services like scheduling and delivering rides to customers; alternatively it could include services like offering current transportation alternatives to designers. For example, the service capsule could comprise services like these.

Intelligent Service Tier

Reflex agent models have been replaced by motivated agents and learning agents in their computational model. In order to activate learning, programming, or other agent functions, the motivation process uses information from the observed environment as well as its own memory. It sets goals and encourages people to work towards them. To comprehend and replicate interesting activities that happen in their environments, agents form objectives. When using a 3D map, it may be used to locate nearby cabs and to overlay relevant information, such as the amount of steps it will take one to go to the vehicle. A database would be used to store the information gleaned from the learning process.

Supply Chain

The entire supply chain of Uber is based on the aggregator model. This means, that Uber plays a mediator role in connecting services requesters to service provisioners. There is a large-scale fulfilment procedure at the heart of the entire process As such the entire system is based on demand and supply that are scattered across a large geographic space. Therefore, one can naturally expect a plethora of problems when trying to get these dissimilar systems/components, to function as a logical unit/entity(Ke et al., 2019).

To put this in context, one can imagine an Uber car that render services with one passenger, then another passenger, and so on over a vast geographic area and period. Consequently, not just the services are getting exchanged, but also payments are all being handled by numerous financial institutions along the supply chain's cycle. In addition, the current supply chains lacks one critical component visibility. This further complicates the full process. Any supply chain solution or product should indeed solve the challenges listed above in order to be successful. Products and solutions that effectively solve these issues, without jeopardising the integrity of data or transactions they are built upon, will be more successful than those that do not. The route to success in a distributed world is an efficient design that works and expands. SaaS systems could be complicated and large-scale, but there is no one architecture or technique that can be used to create them(Krzos et al., 2020). Similarly, Etsy was plagued by performance issues for a number of years prior to its use of microservices. It was imperative for their technical team to reduce server processing time, and that they were coping with simultaneous API calls, which are not even easily enabled in their PHP framework. Etsy optimized their supply chain with a transition to MSA.

Microservices and process choreographic capabilities are two examples of such an architecture(Valderas et al., 2020). Uber's supply chain architecture would include the following elements in attempt to be built:

- Service encapsulation: Encapsulating services is a well-known technique in Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA). Simplicity of isolated apps can be hidden by API contracts including message canonicals. Distributed architectures are known for their loose coupling, fluid service interactions as well as the ability to orchestrate business processes that span various organisations and applications. This platform is designed to assist these capabilities.

- Event-Driven Architecture: Supply chain products and solutions, in contrast to typical monolith systems, should be event-driven and sensitive enough to respond and adapt to the dynamism of the ecosystem. As a sender and the receiver of multiple business events, each service in the environment acts similarly. An event is published by a microservice (or agent) under this architecture whenever a business state change takes place, for example, "Ride has been booked," "Ride has been finished," and so on. These events are then subscribed to by other microservices as well as agents. As soon as agents are notified of a noteworthy occurrence, they can make changes to their own commercial enterprises and publicise more related activities. If the Ride status is changed to “Cancel” by the customer, it can trigger the “Cancellation charges” which inturn notifies various stakeholders about the same(Krzos et al., 2020).

- Process choreography: Each of the numerous apps that make up a distributed application architecture must communicate with the others in order to reach a common goal, resolution, or aim choreography distributes business logic in an event-driven system, during which a service (or agent) is initiated by an event to accomplish its obligation, such as the proof of delivery event produced by a vehicle tracking system, which triggers the accounting system to begin the payment process, for instance. The system is comprised of several services of this type. More closely matched with real-world settings, process choreography extends above and beyond orchestration. This method makes it simple to implement process changes in a matter of hours rather than weeks or months(Lian & Gao, 2020).

- Unified data: The harmonization of master data is yet another critical component of this architecture, which is required for the effectiveness of whatever supply chain product or service. All consumers in the supply chain network should have access to this data, which is scattered across silos (groups, domains, and apps), if they are to make effective choices in real time. Due to the complexity of connecting to various data sources, creating high-quality master data as well as a primary source of information in any dispersed system is difficult. In addition, retrieving, transforming, and cleaning up master information in real time is a difficult task.

- End to end visibility: Digitalization and data unification from many components into a single perspective are made possible by event-driven architecture, which allows supply chain activities to be executed and monitored without hiccup. There are numerous advantages to this approach, including the identification of processes that are in compliance as well as those that are in violation, as well as the opportunity for process optimisations – allowing for greater flexibility and adaptability to the ever-changing requirements and wants of the business.

- Collaboration Tools: All supply chain systems, especially those used by firms like Uber, rely on tools and technology that make it possible for users from across domains worldwide networks to connect, collaborate on projects and made appropriate real - time decisions.

Organisational culture can influence the successful implementation of an MSA

The following cultural foundations are essential for a implementation of the said Microservices:

Diverse talents

Because microservices are always changing and evolving, the personnel who manage the architecture must have a strong desire to learn. Therefore, it wasn't enough to just employ a diverse team of experts just for sake of hiring; the greatest team of engineers must be assembled. It's easy to overcome the different difficulties that microservices will present if one has a well-rounded and experienced team on the side(Lian & Gao, 2020).

Freedom and control

A company's culture is a major role in the effectiveness of microservices architecture management. Companies can't migrate to microservices if they still have traditional procedures and methods in place, which severely limits their capacity to reap the benefits of the change. A dispersed monolith culture means that a company's microservices adventure will not succeed if it has requirements like permissions for each new modification or commit, or perhaps even undoing changes.

Support systems for developers

First, one has to recognise that they'll be investing a lot of extra time establishing support systems for their engineers and DevOps groups so that they can be productive during this shift. Allowing your engineers the freedom to make their own decisions is essential to a loosely connected design that needs a great deal of faith in their judgement. Netlix built the correct checks and balances within their system in ahead to guarantee that it couldn't be exploited on one hand and even though that this would also develop with them while they grew and maintained this essential aspect of their culture as business grew.

Optimized communication flow

The acceptance of microservices is strongly linked to the organizational structure and culture of a business. As a result the information flow within a company is highly conducive to the success of microservices. When these teams are able to make their own judgments and execute well-informed improvements, feedback mechanisms and heightened agility(Zheng & Wei, 2018).

Conclusion

The current software development process benefits from the use of a microservices architecture. It reduces development and maintenance expenses while minimising risk. Concurrent development, debugging, installation, and scalability are all made feasible. This design enables programmers to take use of both small- and large-scale programming. Due to the reduced complexities and organizational knowledge required to be productive, it allows for a wider range of applicants to be considered. Rapid and agile changes occur on a regular basis. Your clients' requirements may be met swiftly and with unparalleled responsiveness and assistance if you are prepared. The above case of Uber is a brief snapshot of how Uber’s transition into MSA and paving the way for innovation, supply chain optimisation and augmented reality can help the company build the future of urban transport system.

References