Microservices vs Monolithic: Panduan Memilih Arsitektur yang Tepat

Salah satu keputusan paling krusial dalam software development adalah memilih arsitektur yang tepat. Microservices dan Monolithic masing-masing punya kelebihan dan use cases yang berbeda. Mari kita breakdown secara detail.

Apa itu Monolithic Architecture?

Monolithic adalah arsitektur tradisional di mana seluruh aplikasi dibangun sebagai satu unit yang tightly coupled.

Karakteristik Monolithic

┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│     Monolithic Application      │
├─────────────────────────────────┤
│  UI Layer                       │
│  Business Logic Layer           │
│  Data Access Layer              │
│  Database                       │
└─────────────────────────────────┘

Key Features:

• Single codebase
• Single deployment unit
• Shared database
• Tightly coupled components

Contoh Stack Monolithic

// Typical monolithic structure
project/
├── controllers/
│   ├── userController.js
│   ├── productController.js
│   └── orderController.js
├── models/
│   ├── User.js
│   ├── Product.js
│   └── Order.js
├── services/
│   ├── authService.js
│   ├── paymentService.js
│   └── emailService.js
└── app.js

Apa itu Microservices Architecture?

Microservices memecah aplikasi menjadi services kecil yang independent dan loosely coupled.

Karakteristik Microservices

┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
│  User    │  │ Product  │  │  Order   │
│ Service  │  │ Service  │  │ Service  │
├──────────┤  ├──────────┤  ├──────────┤
│   DB     │  │   DB     │  │   DB     │
└──────────┘  └──────────┘  └──────────┘
      │              │              │
      └──────────────┴──────────────┘
              API Gateway

Key Features:

• Multiple codebases
• Independent deployment
• Separate databases
• Loosely coupled services

Contoh Stack Microservices

project/
├── user-service/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── package.json
│   └── Dockerfile
├── product-service/
│   ├── src/
│   ├── package.json
│   └── Dockerfile
└── order-service/
    ├── src/
    ├── package.json
    └── Dockerfile

Perbandingan Detail

1. Development Complexity

Monolithic:

• ✅ Simpler untuk start
• ✅ Easier debugging
• ✅ Straightforward testing
• ❌ Codebase grows large over time

Microservices:

• ❌ Complex initial setup
• ❌ Distributed debugging challenges
• ❌ Integration testing complexity
• ✅ Isolated, manageable codebases

2. Deployment

Monolithic:

• ✅ Single deployment process
• ✅ Simpler CI/CD pipeline
• ❌ Entire app must be redeployed for any change
• ❌ Longer deployment time

Microservices:

• ✅ Independent deployment
• ✅ Faster deployment per service
• ❌ Complex orchestration
• ❌ Multiple CI/CD pipelines

3. Scalability

Monolithic:

• ❌ Scale entire application
• ❌ Resource inefficient
• ❌ Limited horizontal scaling
• ✅ Simpler scaling strategy

Microservices:

• ✅ Scale individual services
• ✅ Resource efficient
• ✅ True horizontal scaling
• ❌ Complex load balancing

4. Technology Stack

Monolithic:

• ❌ Single tech stack for entire app
• ❌ Difficult to adopt new technologies
• ✅ Consistent technology
• ✅ Easier to maintain

Microservices:

• ✅ Different tech stack per service
• ✅ Easy to adopt new technologies
• ❌ Multiple technologies to maintain
• ❌ Requires polyglot expertise

5. Team Structure

Monolithic:

• ✅ Simpler team coordination
• ✅ Shared codebase understanding
• ❌ Merge conflicts
• ❌ Bottlenecks in large teams

Microservices:

• ✅ Independent team ownership
• ✅ Parallel development
• ❌ Requires strong communication
• ❌ Coordination overhead

6. Performance

Monolithic:

• ✅ No network latency between components
• ✅ Faster internal communication
• ❌ Single point of failure
• ❌ Resource contention

Microservices:

• ❌ Network latency between services
• ❌ API call overhead
• ✅ Fault isolation
• ✅ Better resource utilization

7. Cost

Monolithic:

• ✅ Lower infrastructure cost
• ✅ Simpler monitoring
• ✅ Less operational overhead
• ❌ Inefficient resource usage at scale

Microservices:

• ❌ Higher infrastructure cost
• ❌ Complex monitoring setup
• ❌ More operational overhead
• ✅ Cost-effective at scale

Kapan Menggunakan Monolithic?

Ideal Scenarios

✅ Startup atau MVP

• Quick time to market
• Limited resources
• Uncertain requirements

✅ Small Team

• Team size < 10 developers
• Limited DevOps expertise
• Simpler coordination

✅ Simple Application

• Clear, stable requirements
• Limited scalability needs
• Straightforward business logic

✅ Budget Constraints

• Limited infrastructure budget
• Minimal operational cost
• Simpler maintenance

Real-World Examples

• E-commerce startup: Shopify started monolithic
• SaaS MVP: Basecamp masih largely monolithic
• Internal tools: Admin dashboards, CRM internal

Kapan Menggunakan Microservices?

Ideal Scenarios

✅ Large Scale Application

• High traffic volume
• Complex business logic
• Multiple domains

✅ Large Team

• Team size > 20 developers
• Multiple specialized teams
• Need for parallel development

✅ Scalability Requirements

• Different scaling needs per feature
• High availability requirements
• Global distribution

✅ Technology Diversity

• Different tech stacks per domain
• Legacy system integration
• Experimentation needs

Real-World Examples

• Netflix: Hundreds of microservices
• Uber: Service-oriented architecture
• Amazon: Pioneered microservices

Migration Strategy

From Monolithic to Microservices

Jangan big bang migration! Gunakan strangler pattern:

Phase 1: Identify Boundaries

Monolithic App
├── User Management    → Extract first
├── Product Catalog    → Extract second
├── Order Processing   → Extract third
└── Payment           → Extract last

Phase 2: Extract Service

// 1. Create new microservice
// 2. Implement API
// 3. Migrate data
// 4. Update monolith to call service
// 5. Remove code from monolith

Phase 3: Iterate

• Extract one service at a time
• Test thoroughly
• Monitor performance
• Adjust as needed

Best Practices

Do’s:

• ✅ Start with clear boundaries
• ✅ Implement API gateway
• ✅ Use event-driven architecture
• ✅ Implement proper monitoring
• ✅ Automate deployment

Don’ts:

• ❌ Don’t extract too early
• ❌ Don’t create nano-services
• ❌ Don’t share databases
• ❌ Don’t skip testing
• ❌ Don’t ignore operational complexity

Hybrid Approach: Modular Monolith

Best of both worlds untuk many use cases.

Characteristics

Monolithic Deployment
├── Module: User (isolated)
├── Module: Product (isolated)
├── Module: Order (isolated)
└── Shared: Database

Benefits:

• Modular codebase
• Single deployment
• Clear boundaries
• Easy to extract later

Implementation:

// Modular structure
src/
├── modules/
│   ├── user/
│   │   ├── controller.js
│   │   ├── service.js
│   │   └── model.js
│   ├── product/
│   │   ├── controller.js
│   │   ├── service.js
│   │   └── model.js
│   └── order/
│       ├── controller.js
│       ├── service.js
│       └── model.js
└── shared/
    ├── database.js
    └── utils.js

Decision Framework

Questions to Ask

1. Team Size

   • < 10 developers → Monolithic
   • 10-20 developers → Modular Monolith

   • 20 developers → Microservices

2. Scalability Needs

   • Uniform scaling → Monolithic
   • Different scaling per feature → Microservices

3. Deployment Frequency

   • Weekly/monthly → Monolithic
   • Daily/multiple per day → Microservices

4. Budget

   • Limited → Monolithic
   • Flexible → Microservices

5. Complexity

   • Simple domain → Monolithic
   • Complex, multiple domains → Microservices

Tools & Technologies

Monolithic Stack

• Framework: Ruby on Rails, Django, Laravel
• Database: PostgreSQL, MySQL
• Deployment: Heroku, DigitalOcean
• Monitoring: New Relic, Datadog

Microservices Stack

• Container: Docker, Kubernetes
• API Gateway: Kong, AWS API Gateway
• Service Mesh: Istio, Linkerd
• Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana
• Tracing: Jaeger, Zipkin
• Message Queue: RabbitMQ, Kafka

Kesimpulan

Tidak ada silver bullet. Pilihan tergantung pada:

1. Stage perusahaan: Startup vs Enterprise
2. Team size: Small vs Large
3. Requirements: Simple vs Complex
4. Budget: Limited vs Flexible
5. Timeline: Quick MVP vs Long-term

Rekomendasi:

• Start monolithic untuk MVP
• Evolve ke modular monolith
• Extract ke microservices when needed

Remember: Premature optimization is the root of all evil. Start simple, evolve as needed.

Butuh Konsultasi Arsitektur?

Hydra Core Digitech membantu Anda:

• ✅ Assess current architecture
• ✅ Design scalable solution
• ✅ Migration strategy
• ✅ Implementation support

Hubungi kami untuk diskusi arsitektur aplikasi Anda.

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