Erik Reinert
TheAltF4Stream
Introduction to Backend Architectures
4 hours, 54 minutes CC
Course Description
Explore the fundamentals of backend architectures, from monoliths to microservices and serverless setups. You'll learn when to use each design, how to tackle common challenges and pick up key principles to make your systems robust and scalable. We'll review example architectures from tech giants, giving you practical insights from the real world.
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Published: July 24, 2024
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Section Duration: 9 minutes
Erik introduces the course by discussing its goals, including defining backend system architecture designs, understanding when to use them, and learning how to implement them. Prerequisites for the course include a basic understanding of software development and backend versus frontend.
What are Backend Architecture Designs
Section Duration: 55 minutes
Erik discusses how architecture designs can improve efficiency and productivity by reducing redundancy and facilitating code reuse. He also answers questions about tools for drawing up designs and how to keep designs up to date.
Erik discusses the four main principles of architecture design: modularity, scalability, robustness, and flexibility. He emphasizes the importance of having specific tasks for each component, designing for growth and traffic handling, handling unexpected situations and errors, and accommodating changes and future features.
Erik discusses the key challenges in backend systems design, emphasizing the issues of complexity, adaptability, security, technology, resources, and stakeholder management. He also advises on balancing exploration with practical constraints, emphasizing the importance of time management and setting realistic expectations.
Erik discusses adaptability and security in architecture design, emphasizing that systems should be designed to handle changing business needs without overloading developers or creating unnecessary complexity. He also touches on security, highlighting its critical role in protecting data and ensuring compliance with legal and internal policies.
Erik discusses the importance of choosing the right technology stack, emphasizing the need for experience and understanding to avoid future challenges. He explains the significance of effective resource management, including engineering time and planning. Erik also mentions the importance of stakeholder alignment to ensure clear communication and prevent conflicts during system development.
Erik answers student questions regarding managing complexity and simplicity in software development. He emphasizes the importance of planning, documentation, and effective communication to manage complexity and ensure understanding among team members. He also answers a question regarding the decision to use open-source solutions versus building one's own authentication system.
When to Use Backend Architecture Designs
Section Duration: 37 minutes
Erik discusses when to use backend architecture designs. He explains that they are useful when starting a new project (greenfield scenario), scaling an existing system, solving complex problems, improving efficiency and productivity, and enhancing communication among team members.
Erik discusses the factors to consider when deciding on backend architecture designs. He emphasize the importance of understanding project requirements, team expertise, budget, time constraints, project size and complexity, maintenance, technological choices, user feedback, market trends, and legal and regulatory requirements.
Erik answers student questions about domain-driven design and when to re-implement or re-architect an existing system.
How to Implement Backend Architecture Designs
Section Duration: 54 minutes
Erik explains that the implementation process consists of three stages: research, implementation, and iteration. He discusses setting requirements, understanding user expectations, determining functionality, considering performance and constraints, and addressing scalability, security, and regulatory requirements.
Erik discusses how to choose the right tools for the job by defining the project requirements and exploring different options. He also emphasizes the value of technical documentation in documenting and sharing the research and exploration process and facilitating communication and collaboration.
Erik discusses the development process after creating a workflow or diagram. He discusses the handoff between the principal engineer and the developer, highlighting the need for collaboration and communication. He also covers testing the architecture and the importance of integration tests.
Erik discusses the importance of maintaining a system after it has been deployed and how it can impact the overall design. He also covers best practices such as using a modular approach, planning for scalability, ensuring robustness and flexibility, addressing security concerns, keeping up with technology trends, and incorporating user feedback to continuously improve the system.
Common Backend Architectures
Section Duration: 1 hour, 51 minutes
Erik discusses monolithic architecture as a model where all the necessary code and components for a software application are combined into a single unit. He highlights the pros of monolithic architecture, such as simplicity, testing, and efficiency. However, he also mentions the cons, including limited scalability, lack of flexibility, and complexity.
Erik discusses that monoliths are suitable for small-scale applications or startups where the application scope is clear and unlikely to drastically change or scale. He also addresses students' questions regarding scaling monoliths, security concerns, and sharing types between frontend and backend.
Erik discusses the differences between generic services and microservices, emphasizing the importance of correctly designing microservices. He highlights the benefits of service-oriented architectures, such as continuous delivery, deployment of large applications, and faster time to market for new features.
Erik discusses generic services as part of a monolithic application or a distributed system, and highlights the benefits of separating front-end and back-end services, such as scalability, fault tolerance, and easier deployment and management. Erik also mentions that this separation allows for better security, as the front-end and back-end are isolated from each other, reducing the risk of unauthorized access to the database.
Erik explains that microservices are small, independent, and loosely coupled services that run in their own process. He discusses the importance of separation between microservices, as well as the use of protocols like HTTP/REST or messaging queues for communication between services. He also mentions the possible benefits of using Go and gRPC for building microservices.
Erik answers students' questions regarding having databases in the same service and communication between microservices, such as RESTful transactions, event-based systems, and queues, and emphasizes the need to consider latency and adapt to specific requirements.
Erik highlights the benefits of independent development and deployment in service-oriented architecture. He also discusses the challenges and complexities that come with distributed systems, such as the need for developers to consider how other systems work and the difficulties in development, testing, and data management.
Erik provides use cases for distributed service-oriented architecture such as e-commerce platforms, social media platforms, streaming services, online gaming platforms, and large-scale IoT systems. He explains how decoupling systems and dividing functionalities into separate microservices can improve performance, scalability, and user experience in these different use cases.
Erik introduces serverless architecture and explains that serverless doesn't just mean functions as a service (FaaS), but also includes backend as a service (BaaS) platforms like Firebase and Superbase. He highlights that serverless involves shifting the responsibility of infrastructure management to the cloud provider, letting developers concentrate on running their code without worrying about scalability or uptime.
Erik discusses hosting a serverless front-end in an S3 bucket, eliminating the need for constantly running processes and saving costs. He also discusses the use of an API gateway to connect serverless functions and the scalability and cost-effectiveness of serverless databases like DynamoDB.
Erik discusses the pros and cons of serverless architecture. He highlights the benefits of not having to manage servers, cost savings based on usage, and automated scaling capabilities. He also mentions the potential drawbacks, such as increased costs for long-term applications, difficulties in testing due to reliance on the internet, and troubleshooting and debugging complexities when relying on third-party services.
Erik provides various use cases for serverless computing including real-time file processing, ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) processes, and serving static websites. He emphasizes the cost-effectiveness and ease of management that serverless offers for these use cases.
Evolution & Users of Backend System Architectures
Section Duration: 19 minutes
Erik discusses the evolution of backend system architectures, starting with a monolith, splitting the monolith into services, and finally, serverless architecture.
Erik discusses how Amazon utilizes a microservices architecture and how they built their own infrastructure and software to solve instead of leaning on another provider. He also discusses how Netflix employs a hybrid of serverless and microservice architectures and how they have designed their architecture to solve specific problems within the company.
Erik explains how Google's search engine architecture has evolved over time, starting with a monolithic architecture and eventually transitioning to microservices. He also highlights how Uber expanded its services by transitioning from a monolithic to a microservice architecture, allowing them to scale and customize their services for different markets.
Wrapping Up
Section Duration: 6 minutes
Erik wraps up the course by discussing the importance of seeking out blogs and resources from reputable sources to expand your understanding and exposure to new ideas and backend architectures. He also highlights the main conclusions to take away from this course, including systematic planning, flexibility and scalability, and continuous learning.
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