Microservices on Azure

Build resilient, highly scalable, and distributed applications to deliver value faster.

What are microservices?

Microservices are an architectural approach to building applications where each core function, or service, is built and deployed independently. Microservice architecture is distributed and loosely coupled, so one component’s failure won’t break the whole app. Independent components work together and communicate with well-defined API contracts. Build microservice applications to meet rapidly changing business needs and bring new functionalities to market faster.

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Build and deploy services with agility Microservices scale with demand Make your applications more resilient Find the best approach for your team

A room with large color-coded cables lining the ceiling and cascading down to the floor

Easily manage new feature releases, updates, and bug fixes in individual components without redeploying the entire application. Automate software delivery workflow with a continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) pipeline like GitHub Actions.

A server room with wires and cables on either side

Scale individual services and subsystems based on resource needs without scaling out the entire application. Pack a higher density of services into a single host using a container orchestrator like Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or Azure Red Hat OpenShift.

Replace or retire individual services without affecting the entire application. Unlike the traditional monolithic application model, microservices platforms use patterns such as circuit breaking to tolerate individual service failure, improving security and reliability. To make this easier, install a service mesh using the Service Mesh Interface (SMI) for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) or Red Hat OpenShift Service Mesh for Azure Red Hat OpenShift.

Choose your team's preferred deployment approach, language, microservices platform, and programming model for each service. Publish your microservice APIs for internal and external consumption while managing crosscutting concerns such as authentication, authorization, throttling, caching, transformation, and monitoring with Azure API Management.