The Difference between Web Services and Microservices

Overview

Can you spot the difference between Web APIs, web services and microservices? Well, though all these terms are often used interchangeably, each one of them carries a different meaning, especially since it is very important to learn about the fundamental differences.

The digital world keeps on changing every now and then, and there is no debate about the fact that if you want to be successful, you need to keep up with the ever-evolving digital space and even anticipate what’s upcoming in the next few years down the line. It is rightly said that microservices, web services, and web APIs are the future of software development. The argument for three of them is getting louder and louder, since these services ensure the creation of a seamless solution without interrupting the overall workflow. To be precise, these concepts can assist in delivering something which probably cannot be achieved using other architectural styles. The following post is meant to assist you in understanding concepts such as microservices and web services, how they are beneficial and most importantly, how they differ in various ways.

Introducing Microservices

Microservices are basically a cloud-native architectural approach where it is possible to compose a single application of several loosely coupled and independently deployable smaller components or services. Often known as microservices architecture, this is a software design pattern where it is possible for any app to be decomposed into numerous independent services, and do you know what is the best part, here interaction takes place via different APIs. So it doesn’t matter if you have autonomous teams which can assist in developing as well as maintaining independent services; as a result, scaling becomes much simpler. 

Microservices are often considered as an extension of SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture). It is possible to create a different bunch of independent services with the help of numerous programming languages as well as platforms. No matter how simple or complex the application is, it ensures rapid, frequent and effective delivery and that too in no time.

So in short, microservices can be considered as a bunch of loosely coupled services, which are easy to maintain and test, independently deployable, and organised around prominent business capabilities. Still confused, here’s an easy example,

Think of microservices architecture and monolithic architecture as two different cities; in a monolithic city, traffic jams happen pretty often since it is supposed to go through a single intersection leading to an emergency stop, whereas in a microservices city, you will find multiple roads, flyovers, and intersections so that there is no scope for any traffic jam. In case a single interaction slows down, it isn’t bothersome for the rest of the city. Similarly, if one service fails, it doesn’t bother or hinder the entire application.

Imagine how Netflix, Amazon, and Uber handle millions of user requests without the entire system crashing down. All thanks to microservices, the architectural approach has transformed how things like designing, deployment, and scaling of modern applications are possible. Here are some key characteristics of microservices architecture.

Singular responsibility - One of the top-notch aspects of the microservices architecture is that it is feasible for each service to handle one specific business function.

Independent deployment - The next aspect is that it is possible to update services, and for that, there is no effect on other prospects.

Decentralised data management - It may interest you to know that each service owns its data.

Polyglot services - Here, teams tend to choose the best language or framework for each service. 

API-based communication - Lightweight APIs (such as REST, gRPC, and GraphQL) handle service connectivity.

Autonomous teams - The next aspect is that each team owns a service from end to end.

What happens when you incorporate microservices architecture? Well, the overall application is supposed to enhance in terms of modularity, resilience, and adaptability.

Let's try to understand the working of microservices architecture. First and foremost, this system mainly functions as a distributed ecosystem, a space where multiple independent components successfully collaborate to fulfil numerous requests. Here’s an example of a ride-sharing application: when a rider books a ride, what happens behind the scenes.

• Rider service - Here, everything is handled in terms of user profiles and preferences
• Driver service - It tracks if any driver is available and what their exact location is.
• Matching service - The next step is to find and assign nearby drivers.
• Payment service - Here, the fare transaction is being processed
• Notification service - This is where trip confirmations and updates are taken care of.

Now, let us see what actually happens behind the scenes:

• As soon as the ride is booked, an API call is made to request a ride.
• The next step is where the API gateway receives the request and successfully routes it to the matching services.
• The next step is for the matching services, where queries such as "find nearby drivers " arise.
• As soon as things match up from both ends, the payment service successfully calculates the fare and shows up.
• Lastly, the notification service confirms the booking, and it can be through an SMS or push notification.

How are Microservices beneficial?

Microservices architecture can be beneficial in a plethora of ways, here I would like to mention a few of them.

1. Absolute agility

Microservices does foster an organisation of small, independent teams that take ownership of their services to a great extent. Different teams tend to act within a small and well- understood manner, as a result, professionals are empowered to work more independently and in no time. As a result, development cycle times are shortened.  

2. Flexible scaling

Microservices enable that no matter how many services are happening, each of them are scaled on an independent basis; this is usually done to meet demand for the application feature it supports. So what happens next is that teams can right-size infrastructure needs, and measure the cost of a feature and maintain availability in case of a sudden spike in demand. 

3. Quick and easy deployment

Another benefit offered by microservices architecture is that it ensures seamless integration and continuous delivery, so overall, trying new ideas to roll back becomes easy, especially if something doesn’t work right then and there. And do you know what the best part here is? The cost of failure is pretty low, which means you have a larger scope for experimentation, updating code becomes easy, and overall time to market is increased, especially for the new features and functionalities.

4. Reusable code

The next benefit offered by microservices architecture is that it ensures that the software is successfully divided into smaller and well-defined modules, which allow different teams to use functions for a wide range of purposes.

If there is a service written for a specific function, it is possible to use it as a building block for another feature as well. So what happens next is that the application can bootstrap itself, and developers no longer have to ponder over it; instead, they can develop new capabilities, and for that, they no longer have to write code from scratch.

5. Resilience

 

The next benefit offered by microservices architecture is that it leads to an increase in service independence. As a result, the app’s resistance to failure automatically decreases. Earlier when monolithic architecture was used, this wasn’t the scenario at all; if a single component failed, it led to the entire application failing. As of now, when microservice architecture is being used, applications handle total service failure by degrading functionality and not crashing the entire application.

On and all, microservices are not a monolithic architecture. You can put it in a way that the architectural model features better facilities and is a full-fledged operational model to consider. However, this certainly doesn’t mean there aren’t any shortcomings or drawbacks.

Drawbacks of microservices

• Complexity - When an entire application is broken down into smaller chunks or independent microservices, you are bound to end up with a distributed system. So, in order to get better results, it must work pretty well with other services and data must be handled with great precision and consistency. Managing all these tasks can be extremely challenging.
• Testing - The distributed nature and dependencies among services mean unit testing, integration testing, and end-to-end testing become much more intricate. For that, you require specialised microservices tools and techniques for testing.
• Security - Since there are so many services and communication channels involved, hackers are bound to make their way to attack and create more and more opportunities. So it is very important to take some extra precautions; this is how you can secure every service on an individual basis and make sure highly secure communication is being established between services.  
• Deployment - Deploying microservices requires using lots of tools, such as Open DevOps or Compass, and orchestration techniques that automate deployment and ensure fault tolerance.

Introducing Web Services

As the name implies, web services are applications or components that can be programmed over the internet. As a result, it is possible to conduct seamless communication among different devices instead of a network. Web services is such a term which can be easily mentioned these days, and do you know what the best part here is, one no longer has to seek references from Amazon Web Services or Google’s Web service, Google Cloud Platform. Wondering why these tech giants are vouching so much for the tech? Well, it is rightly said that they have successfully raised the bar by addressing the need for app development projects.

Web services in general are meant to provide power-packed, highly flexible interoperability, allowing machine-to-machine interactions around a network, even with machines and software stacks. A web service is meant to support a specific task or a set of tasks, where you will find a formal description which specifies the web service and features all the relevant details which are required to conduct seamless interaction, for example, messages, different formats and protocols. So it doesn’t matter whether a hardware or software stack is used, the service, no matter what underlying platform and programming language is used to build the service. As a result, numerous complex cross-platform interactions simplify and streamline data access and transactional behaviour.

Web services feature any software, application, or cloud technology which provides standardised web protocols (HTTP or HTTPS) to interoperate, communicate, and exchange data messaging – usually XML (Extensible Markup Language) – throughout the internet. Web services in general comprise these crucial functions:

• Available over the internet or intranet networks
• Standardised XML messaging system
• Independent of a single operating system or programming language
• Self-describing via standard XML language
• Discoverable through a simple location method

A web service makes communication pretty seamless via numerous apps using HTML, XML, WSDL, SOAP, and other open standards. Here, data is successfully tagged using HTML, SOAP successfully transfers the message, and the service’s accessibility can be described by WSDL.

So what really happens is a web service successfully sits between two sets of Java, .NET and PHP apps; this is how applications communicate over a network. Let’s say a Java app interacts with Java, .NET, and PHP, and in a way, web services communicate in an independent language.

Why are web services important in modern applications?

Web services have become indispensable in modern software development; this is how seamless integration is made, no matter how complex this ecosystem turns out to be. If you take a close look at the current scenario, you will come across several business applications using a wide range of programming languages to develop successful online applications based on Java, .NET and PHP. No wonder these are often known as heterogeneous applications, which require a type of correspondence to occur between them. Now here’s the trickiest part: there are times when one cannot guarantee exact correspondence among applications. This is where the scope of web services is needed. Below, I would like to mention several advantages of considering web services in the current times.

1. Revealing the existing function in the framework

What is web administration? It is a well-managed code which can be called using HTML, and it is conducted seamlessly by using HTTP requests.  Here, it is possible to uncover the handiness of the present code over the framework. 

2. Interoperability

The next benefit offered by web services is high interoperability. This aspect does offer consistent and well-programmed associations where it all begins using one program application and is then carried forward to the next. Cleanser, WSDL, and UDDI conventions, which often lead to a self-depicting approach to find and call a product application strategy, paying little mind to the area or stage. Interoperability issues creep in at the disclosure, definition, and solicitation/reaction instruments.

Web applications successfully empower different groups of applications where it is possible to communicate with one another in no time, and lots and lots of information is shared as well as administration among themselves. Gone are the times when composing explicit code was the norm; today, it is pretty mandatory for applications to comprehend, it doesn’t matter if there are nonexclusive codes mentioned, which is easily understood by the application.

Web applications prove pretty helpful when considered with a test-changing framework, designs, heritage frameworks, and a mix of different programming languages, which makes frameworks well-coordinated at that particular point.

Another significant advantage is that they offer a non-exclusive method to conduct seamless cooperation. Here you will find a typical arrangement of norms-based specialised techniques which successfully incorporate HTTP, WSDL, and SOAP has been created. These make it feasible for web applications to be stage-free.

3. Ease of use

It is possible for users to make the most of web services over the internet. When a web page is accessed, it means they are eligible to obtain web service functionality over the web. So, more or less, the ability of web administration successfully shifts from being straightforward data queries to complex algorithmic calculations. This is mainly done by exposing business logic; everything turns out to be easy to use and accessible. 

4. Agility

This benefit is all about witnessing the capacity to change. As soon as an undertaking IT framework is considered, which is streamlined into services, new functionality to address new business requests involves amassing current services. In general, it is way simpler than reassembling another framework and that too without much preparation.

5. Quality

When we talk about reuse, web service approaches enable the seamless construction of services, and all they need to do is quickly assemble the existing services. And the best part here is, new frameworks will have less carriage.

6. Cost

Ready-made web services which are successfully assembled from different kinds of systems can lessen the expense of developing new frameworks. So if you take a look at the long picture, everything turns out to be extremely cost-effective. Of course, these minor cost decreases can result in a relevant kind of savings.

7. Minimal Effort Communication(XML-Based)

Last but certainly not least, web services use XML for data depiction and data transportation layers. With the help of XML removes any framework organisation, working system, or state official. Any application which is web service-based needs minimal effort, especially in terms of communication.

Types of Web Services

1. XML-RPC

A remote procedure call is one of the basic XML protocols, where it is possible to exchange data among a wide range of devices on a network. This type of web service makes the most of HTTP so that all kinds of data can be transferred, and successful communication can be established from client to server.

2. UDDI

The next type of web services are UDDI, Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration. It is an XML-based standard considered for detailing, publishing, and discovering web services. You can call this an internet registry for businesses, and this is basically worldwide. The end objective is to successfully streamline digital transactions and e-commerce.

3. SOAP

The next type of web services to consider is SOAP.  Another interesting XML-based Web service protocol, which is used to exchange data as well as documents,s and this is done over HTTP or SMTP, so basically no matter how many independent procedures are operating, communication becomes seamless, all thanks to XML.

4. REST

The next type of web services to consider is REST. This one offers seamless communication and connectivity among devices and the internet for API-based tasks.

Web template, JSON-RPC, JSON-WSP, Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Web Services Conversation Language (WSCL), Web Services Flow Language (WSFL), Web Services Metadata Exchange (WS-MetadataExchange), XML Interface for Network Services (XINS) are some of the well-known web services which do use markup languages.

Are there any drawbacks?

• Security - Web services do tend to incorporate several issues in terms of security, for example, buffer overflow injections and session hijacking. As a result, you have to deal with corrupted data and data theft.
• Performance bottlenecks - Another issue with web services is that they result in slower performance in comparison to more lightweight communication mechanisms.
• Complex - Last but certainly not least, one is complexity. Web services feature lots and lots of complex interactions and data exchange, which does affect programming approaches. As a result, every aspect, including developing, debugging, and maintaining, can be troublesome to manage.

Microservices vs Web Services - The ultimate showdown

After having a proper understanding of the two, it’s time to spot the differences between microservices and web services. Here are a few factors to take into account.

1. Architecture

First and foremost, the differentiating factor between the two is architecture. Microservices comprises well distributed architecture featuring independent, loosely coupled services. Whereas web services stand on a standardised architecture which enables interoperable communication between systems.

2. Scope

Another differentiating factor to consider is that Microservices are smaller when we talk about scope. Here, each service is meant to focus on specific business functionality. Web services can be larger in terms of scope and do represent larger functional components.

3. Deployment

Developers tend to deploy microservices independently; here, containerization is considered to isolate them from other services, and the overall deployment process becomes easy. Whereas web services, on the contrary, can be deployed as a single unit or a collection of services and that too in a monolithic approach. 

4. Complexity

Now this one is pretty tricky since both the concepts possess a fair share of complexity, microservices can be a bit more complex since it features disturbed nature, managing independent parts isn’t easy.

Web services are less complex since they feature a standardised approach and centralised management.

5. Scalability and performance

Lastly, but certainly not least, microservices here offer fine-grained scalability, and all the individual services can be scaled independently, which can vary in terms of demand. Here, web services are designed to successfully handle larger loads and may require scaling the entire system rather than specific components.

Final words

Overall, the future of microservices architecture and web services seems pretty rosy,  and it won’t wear out any time soon. Which is better for your business right now?

• Choose microservices if you are planning to develop large-scale or highly complex applications that, at the same time, must be scalable and easy to maintain by multiple cross-functional teams simultaneously. They promote loose coupling, flexibility, and agility.
• Choose web services if you require a simple way to enable two different applications to share data, or if you are willing to exchange functions which can be easily accessed on the internet. Here, it is possible to create a service-oriented architecture, making it a great choice for enterprise application environments. 

Above all these aspects, of course, it is extremely important to consider other factors, including business and project requirements, budget, implementation complexity, scalability and agility needs, level of interoperability, and so on.

If you are planning to develop an e-commerce platform, it means you are creating a large, complex application which must work in sync for better outcomes. Here, microservices work the best since it focuses on independent stability and seamless interaction.

Let’s say you are developing a travel booking app. You need an architecture which communicates better with legacy systems, and here web services work wonders. 

So that’s all for now! This is what microservices and web services are all about and how they are different in very many ways. I hope you did find the post worth your time, and in case you have any kind of doubts or queries, you can further reach us in the comment section below. Also, when conducting such projects, try hiring a reputable and reliable development company which is not just knowledgeable but also carries immense expertise and experience in conducting successful projects for its valuable clients. Good luck with your future ventures.