Microservices are a popular and modern organizational software engineering practice. The guiding principle of any microservices implementation is to develop an application by dividing its business components into smaller services that can be deployed and operated independently of each other. The separation of concerns between services is defined as “service boundaries.”

In this three-part blog series, we examine the critical role Kubernetes plays in shaping the future of infrastructure, including the rise of containers and Kubernetes. The first in the series covers Next-Generation Application Development. The second covers the Next Frontier: Container Orchestration. And the third covers How Kubernetes Gets Work Done.

Microservices are a style of architecture used by many organizations for software development. In the past, the IT industry used monolithic or service-oriented architecture (SOA) solutions as the standard. However, the lack of dynamic scalability of this type of architectural system is no longer adequate for the increasing complexity of today’s infrastructures. Microservices addresses this by providing a highly agile and scalable alternative.

As APIs and microservices evolve, the architecture used to secure these resources must also mature. Utilizing a token-based architecture to protect APIs is a robust, secure and scalable approach, and it is also much safer than API keys or basic authentication. However, token-based architecture comes in varying maturity levels, as outlined by the API Security Maturity Model.

Unlike a traditional monolithic approach, in which all components form an inseparable entity, microservices work in synergy to accomplish the same tasks while being separate. Each of these components or processes is a microservice. Granular and lightweight, this type of software development allows a similar process to be used in multiple applications. This is a key element in optimizing application development for a cloud-native model.