10 Microservices Anti-Patterns, Top Backend Node Interview Questions 2024

Introduction

Applications built on a microservices architecture are designed to be scalable, flexible, and robust, capable of withstanding various challenges over time. The strength of microservices lies in their loosely connected components, each operating independently. This independence ensures that issues in one service don't disrupt others, contributing to the overall resilience of the application. However, no architecture is without its vulnerabilities. Certain missteps, known as Anti-Patterns, can compromise the effectiveness of a microservices setup.

In this article, you will find common pitfalls in microservices architecture.

• Single Block Problems
• Talkative MicroServices
• Distributed System
• Mixing Many Tasks
• Strong Dependencies
• Blind Spots

1. Single Block Problems

When building microservices, trying to keep a monolith structure can cause big problems like making it hard for your app to handle more users or recover from errors. Here's why:

Separate Databases:

Each microservice should have its own database. This way, you can choose the best database type and rules for each service, making it easier to manage and scale. But, if all services share one database, it's tough for your app to grow.

Simpler Deployment:

Breaking your app into smaller services should make it easier to update and fix. But if deployment is still complex and slow, needing lots of team coordination and manual work, you lose the quick and flexible benefits of microservices.

Clear Service Boundaries:

Each microservice needs clear, separate tasks. If boundaries are blurry, with services doing similar things, it leads to extra work and confusion about who does what. This makes it hard to manage and improve your setup.

Tips:

• Use a separate database for each microservice.
• Make sure each microservice has a clear, distinct role, possibly using Domain Driven Design to help define these roles.

2. Talkative MicroServices

Microservices need to talk to each other to get the job done. But if they chat too much or in a messy way, things can slow down. Here's what can go wrong:

Too Many Requests:

Imagine if every small task or bit of info needed a bunch of messages between services. That's a lot of waiting and traffic, which can slow everything down.

Complicated APIs:

If a microservice's API makes you call it lots of times for one thing, each call adds more delay and work, making things slower.

Chain Reaction:

Sometimes, one task can make all the microservices talk in a chain. If one link in the chain has a problem, it can mess up everything, like dominoes falling.

How to Fix It:

• Keep services simple and separate so they don't rely too much on each other.
• Use tools like message queues or event systems (think Amazon SQS or EventBridge) to organize how services talk, making everything more smooth and scalable.

3. Distributed System

Sometimes, even though an app is split into many parts (like in a distributed system), these parts are too dependent on each other, making it hard to call them truly separate "microservices."

What's Wrong Here:

No Real Independence: Each part of the system can't work well on its own because it relies too much on the other parts. This makes it hard to update or fix just one part without messing with the others.

Too Many Connections:

All the parts are tangled up in a complicated web. If one part needs something, it has to go through a bunch of others, making everything more complex and risky.

Sharing Too Much:

The parts often share the same information or resources, like databases. This can lead to problems like mixed-up data or one part slowing down because another is using too much of the shared resource.

To avoid these issues, it's important to make sure each part can stand on its own as much as possible.

4. Mixing Many Tasks

A big mistake in setting up microservices is making every little task its own service. This can slow down your app and make things more complicated than they need to be. It's better to focus on what's really needed and use Domain-Driven Design to guide you.

What Happens When There Are Too Many Services:

Too Many Pieces: You end up with lots of tiny services, maybe even hundreds. Each one does something small, making the whole setup overly complicated.

Not Sticking Together:

These tiny services don't work well together. They're like puzzle pieces from different puzzles, making it hard to see the big picture.

Too Tangled:

Even though they're supposed to be separate, these services rely on each other too much. Changing one thing can mean having to change lots of others, which is a headache.

A good fix is to plan your services around the main areas of your app, using Domain Driven Design. This keeps things organized and makes your app easier to handle.

5. Strong Dependencies

This happens when the same data is stored in different places (like in a distributed system), and updates don't happen at the same time everywhere. This can lead to wrong or old data being used, causing mistakes or problems with the data's reliability.

What Goes Wrong:

Updates Are Out of Sync: When data changes, it doesn't update everywhere at once. This delay means some parts of the system might use outdated information.

Network Issues:

Sometimes, network problems can stop updates from reaching all places where the data is stored, leading to mismatched data.

Conflicts from Many Places:

If different parts of the system try to change the data at the same time, it can cause conflicts that aren't resolved properly, making the data unreliable.

To solve these problems, using patterns like the Saga Pattern can help manage and coordinate changes across the system, keeping the data consistent.

6. Blind Spots

When an app doesn't give clear insights into what's happening inside, figuring out how well it's working or finding problems becomes tough.

Not Enough Logging:

There's not enough detailed recording of what's happening in the app. This makes it hard to follow what the app is doing and spot where things go wrong.

Missing Key Metrics:

The app doesn't share enough info on how well it's running, like how fast it is or how much power it's using. Without these details, it's tricky to know if the app is healthy or needs some tuning.

Limited Tracing:

It's hard to track where requests or data go across different parts of the app. This makes it tough to pinpoint where delays or errors are happening, especially when many parts work together.

Improving these areas, like adding more logs, sharing more performance data, and better tracking of requests, can make a big difference in understanding and fixing app issues.

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Node Microservice Interview Questions

1. Why would you choose Microservices architecture?

• Microservices can adapt easily to other frameworks or technologies.
• Failure of a single process does not affect the entire system.
• Provides support to big enterprises as well as small teams.
• Can be deployed independently and in relatively less time.

2. How does monitoring and alerting work with microservices?

• Collecting Metrics:
  Each microservice generates metrics related to its performance, such as response times, error rates, and resource usage.
• Logs and Traces:
  Microservices log important events and errors. Distributed tracing tools like Jaeger or Zipkin can track requests as they flow through the services, helping to pinpoint failures or bottlenecks.
• Health Checks:
  Microservices often expose health check endpoints to report their status, making it easier to detect and isolate unhealthy instances.
• Aggregation and Visualization:
  Metrics and logs are aggregated using platforms like Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana (ELK) or Grafana, allowing for centralized monitoring and visualization of the system's health.
• Incident Management:
  Alerts are integrated into incident management systems, ensuring that issues are tracked, addressed, and analyzed for future prevention.

3. What are the main advantages of Microservices?

The main advantages of using microservices are:

• Scalability:
  Microservices allow individual components to be scaled independently based on demand which optimizes resource utilization.
• Flexibility:
  Developers can use different programming languages, databases, and technologies for each microservice, enabling the use of the best tool for each task.
• Continuous delivery:
  Microservices promote faster development and deployment cycles, enabling CI/CD
• Fault isolation:
  Issues in one microservice do not affect the entire application, which enhances fault isolation and system resilience.
• Team autonomy:
  Microservices enable multiple teams to work independently on different services, which enhances development speed and promotes innovation.

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