Understanding and addressing quality attributes of microservices architecture: A Systematic literature review

Abstract

Abstract Context: As a rapidly adopted architectural style in software engineering, Microservices Architecture (MSA) advocates implementing small-scale and independently distributed services, rather than binding all functions into one monolith. Although many initiatives have contributed to the quality improvement of microservices-based systems, there is still a lack of a systematic understanding of the Quality Attributes (QAs) associated with MSA. Objective: This study aims to investigate the evidence-based state-of-the-art of QAs of microservices-based systems. Method: We carried out a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) to identify and synthesize the relevant studies that report evidence related to QAs of MSA. Results: Based on the data extracted from the 72 selected primary studies, we portray an overview of the six identified QAs most concerned in MSA, scalability, performance, availability, monitorability, security, and testability. We identify 19 tactics that architecturally address the critical QAs in MSA, including two tactics for scalability, four for performance, four for availability, four for monitorability, three for security, and two for testability. Conclusion: This SLR concludes that for MSA-based systems: 1) Although scalability is the commonly acknowledged benefit of MSA, it is still an indispensable concern among the identified QAs, especially when trading-off with other QAs, e.g., performance. Apart from the six identified QAs in this study, other QAs for MSA like maintainability need more attention for effective improvement and evaluation in the future. 3) Practitioners need to carefully make the decision of migrating to MSA based on the return on investment, since this architectural style additionally cause some pains in practice.