Browsing by Author "Sun, Youqin"

Monolithic and microservice architectures represent two different approaches to building and organizing software systems. Monolithic architecture offers various advantages, such as simplicity in application deployment, smaller resource requirements, and lower latency. On the other hand, microservice architecture provides benefits in aspects including scalability, reliability, and availability. However, the advantages of each architecture may depend on various sectors especially when it comes to application performance and resource consumption. This thesis aims to provide insights into the differences in application performance and resource consumption between the two architectures by conducting a systematic literature review on the existing literature and research results in this regard and performing a benchmarking with various load tests on two applications of identical functionalities but using the two above mentioned different architectures. Results from the load tests revealed the applications in both software architectures delivered satisfactory outcomes. However, the test outputs indicated the microservice system outperformed by a high margin in nearly all test cases in aspects including throughput, efficiency, stability, scalability, and resource effectiveness. Based on the research outcomes from the reviewed literature, in general, monolithic design is more efficient and cost-effective for simple applications with small user loads. While microservice architecture is more advantageous for large and complex applications targeting high traffic and deployment in cloud environments. Nevertheless, the overall research results indicated both architectures have strengths and drawbacks in different aspects. Both architectures are used in many successful instances of applications. The differences between the two architectures in application performance and resource effectiveness depend on various factors, including application scale and complexity, traffic load, resource availability, and deployment environments.