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Microservicessystem_design~12 mins

Monolith vs microservices comparison - Architecture Patterns Compared

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System Overview - Monolith vs microservices comparison

This comparison shows two ways to build software systems: a monolith and microservices. A monolith is one big app where all parts live together. Microservices split the app into smaller, independent services. Key needs include scalability, ease of updates, and fault isolation.

Architecture Diagram
Monolith Architecture:

User
  |
Load Balancer
  |
Monolith Application
  |
Database


Microservices Architecture:

User
  |
Load Balancer
  |
API Gateway
  |        |         |
Service A  Service B  Service C
  |          |          |
DB A       DB B       DB C
  |          |          |
Cache A    Cache B    Cache C
Components
User
user
End user interacting with the system
Load Balancer
load_balancer
Distributes incoming requests evenly to backend services
Monolith Application
service
Single large application handling all business logic
Database
database
Stores all application data centrally
API Gateway
api_gateway
Entry point routing requests to appropriate microservices
Service A
service
Handles specific business function A
Service B
service
Handles specific business function B
Service C
service
Handles specific business function C
DB A
database
Stores data for Service A
DB B
database
Stores data for Service B
DB C
database
Stores data for Service C
Cache A
cache
Speeds up data access for Service A
Cache B
cache
Speeds up data access for Service B
Cache C
cache
Speeds up data access for Service C
Request Flow - 16 Hops
User → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → Monolith Application
Monolith Application → Database
Database → Monolith Application
Monolith Application → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → User
User → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → API Gateway
API Gateway → Service A
Service A → Cache A
Cache A → Service A
Service A → DB A
DB A → Service A
Service A → API Gateway
API Gateway → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → User
Failure Scenario
Component Fails:Database
Impact:In monolith, entire app data access fails causing downtime. In microservices, only affected service's data access fails, others continue working.
Mitigation:Use database replication and failover to reduce downtime. Microservices isolate failures to single service, improving resilience.
Architecture Quiz - 3 Questions
Test your understanding
In the microservices architecture, what component routes user requests to the correct service?
ALoad Balancer
BAPI Gateway
CDatabase
DCache
Design Principle
This comparison shows how microservices improve scalability and fault isolation by splitting a large app into smaller services with dedicated databases and caches, while monoliths keep everything tightly coupled in one app and database.