Events to the rescue: solving distributed data problems in a microservice architecture

Not that long ago I gave a short presentation at the Solace EDA summit 2021 on the role of events in a microservice architecture. To fit the theme of the conference the focus is on events. It’s important to remember, however, that events are just one particular kind of asynchronous messaging in a microservice architecture. Asynchronous request/response is equally as important, e.g. orchestration-based sagas.

Abstract

To deliver a large complex application rapidly, frequently and reliably, you often must use the microservice architecture. The microservice architecture is an architectural style that structures the application as a collection of loosely coupled services. One challenge with using microservices is that in order to be loosely coupled each service has its own private database. As a result, implementing transactions and queries that span services is no longer straightforward.

In this presentation, you will learn how event-driven microservices address this challenge. I describe how to use sagas, which is an asynchronous messaging-based pattern, to implement transactions that span services. You will learn how to implement queries that span services using the CQRS pattern, which maintain easily queryable replicas using events.

Slides

Video

I provide consulting and training to help you use the microservice architecture effectively.