How to Migrate From Monolithic To Micro Frontend Architecture?
Why look beyond monolithic architecture and towards micro frontend architecture?
Let me explain.
We don’t think that there is any business organization that enters into the industry without proper market research or limited vision. Of course, every business penetrates a specific industry segment with a strategic and comprehensive plan to grow, expand, lead, and succeed in the competitive landscape.
Do you think that is achievable through a small-sized team, inadequate resources, fewer functionalities, and modules? You already know the answer.
When we put this in the perspective of software development, the complexities surround us with the introduction of advanced features. As a result, handling a single monolithic frontend module becomes difficult, owing to the interdependence of modules.
Software experts and consultants believe that business growth paves the way for simplifying and streamlining processes and hence they recommend migrating to micro front-end architecture from monolithic architecture.
The experts at TRooTech also have similar views and opinions and we also suggest users move to micro frontend architecture.
One of our experienced software engineers says that enhanced and improved scalability is yet another vital reason why organizations should choose micro frontend architecture over monolithic.
Hence, if you want to create a modern, user-friendly, scalable, and intuitive web application, micro frontend architecture is a viable solution. Our front-end developers leverage its other benefits, such as increased agility and stability.
Therefore, your next step is to migrate from monolithic to micro frontend architecture. But before that, we will explain to you about micro frontend architecture in simple layman's terms.
What is Micro Frontend Architecture?
We can define Micro Frontend Architecture as a comprehensive approach to developing web applications by breaking down them into smaller, independent modules called micro-frontends. These micro-frontends can be developed and deployed separately, allowing teams to work on them independently without being blocked by others.
The idea to introduce micro frontend architecture was to create large client-side applications with higher scalability and managing efficiency. It helps organizations achieve independent development and deployment with enhanced team collaboration.
The micro frontend architecture involves breaking down a monolithic front-end application into smaller, independently deployable components.
Our team further analyzed micro frontend architecture to underline a few top benefits that include
- Increased Scalability: Breaking down a monolithic application into smaller components allows for better scalability, as each component can be scaled independently.
- Independent Development and Deployment: Teams can work on different micro-frontends independently, allowing for faster development and deployment cycles.
- Greater Flexibility: Micro frontend architecture enables the use of diverse technologies and frameworks for different components of the application.
- Improved Team Collaboration: With smaller, independent components, teams can collaborate more effectively and work on different parts of the application simultaneously.
Now, are going to address a few important questions that you must know to make your migration process seamless and successful.
Who should Opt to Migrate from Monolithic to Micro Frontend Architecture?
All business organizations, regardless of their size and type, including startups with a focused future objective should prefer micro frontend architecture over monolithic architecture for business ease.
When Should One Opt to Migrate from Monolithic to Micro Frontend Architecture?
Our software architect says that a business built on a monolithic architecture and willing to upgrade it can plan to transit, which will help eliminate bottlenecks and anomalies.
It is a modular approach to effectively reduce the effect of modifications and upgrades on the codebase. Hence, the solution is to not develop a mobile application from scratch but to refactor your software to migrate your architecture.
What are the Ways to Implement Migration from Monolithic to Micro Frontend Architecture?
There are five ways to implement the architecture–
- Run-Time Through Web Components
- Run-Time Through Javascript
- Run-Time Through Iframes
- Build-Time Integration
- Server-Side Components
You can outsource your project to our custom software development company to implement micro frontend architecture in your web applications.
Please feel free to contact us and ask any questions about micro frontend architecture. We will be happy to help.
What are the Top Challenges Related to Micro Front-end Architecture Migration?
In this section, we will primarily discuss and talk about the core challenges faced by front-end developers in migrating from monolithic to micro front-end architecture.
Our skilled front-end developer has highlighted these challenges based on his own experience while transiting the architecture. These intricacies are related to
- Deployment
- Innovation
- Graphical Asset Management
- Testing
Deployment:
| Monolithic Architecture As a Challenge: | Micro frontend Architecture as a Solution: |
|---|---|
With monolithic architecture, the build times are lengthier and it causes difficulty to let out a new release without having to coordinate with other modules.
| With micro frontend architecture, the interdependency between modules is low or can be even said to be non-existent. As a result, it becomes easier to develop as well as test multiple micro frontend modules. In addition to this, it is also easy to roll back to the historic versions when a function does not execute as required. In addition to this, it does not block the complete architecture. As a result, it is speedier to deploy a new module, and even the scheduling of a new release becomes more flexible. |
Innovation:
| Monolithic Architecture As a Challenge: | Micro frontend Architecture as a Solution: |
|---|---|
| Since the deployment time with monolithic architecture is more, organizations aspiring to innovate their applications have to be very specific in what they want. There is a scarce possibility to innovate as it would mean a longer time to market. | One of the best advantages of working with this architecture is the rollback functionality. If a new feature or functionality does not operate as intended, frontend developers can quickly roll back it to the previous version. Here’s a win-win. As a result, organizations can introduce the latest technology and experiment with its agility and feasibility with their applications, thereby tuning them to the frequency of innovation. |
Graphical Asset Management:
| Monolithic Architecture As a Challenge: | Micro frontend Architecture as a Solution: |
|---|---|
| When it comes to understanding a scaling up monolithic architecture, it sparks complexity. It turns into a complex system of codes that too within a single application. Frontend developers often struggle to manage assets in a monolith architecture Owing to the shared codebase, it becomes difficult to achieve parallel work between teams. Given the large codebase in monolith architecture, developers often find it difficult to manage assets and coordinate with the other teams. | Microservices architecture breaks the modules down into independent units. Though these are interconnected, they are not interdependent. Hence, a modification in a module does not mean coordinating the change with the other modules. As a result, the lightweight mechanism is easy to perceive and put into a graphical asset to help other developers in the team understand the workflow and carry out the implementation of newer modules. |
Testing:
| Monolithic Architecture As a Challenge: | Micro frontend Architecture as a Solution: |
|---|---|
| With monolithic architecture, the deployment of a distinguished test ecosystem is necessary for testing the modules. Furthermore, for every new module created, monolithic architecture requires a new test ecosystem, thereby affecting the developer experience. | With micro frontend architecture, there is an interesting feature based on the import-maps overrides. The feature enables frontend developers to carry out the testing of a new micro frontend module in the same browser where all the other modules from the application are deployed. With this feature of the micro frontend architecture, developers need not establish a separate test ecosystem. They can use the already deployed application to override the module they need to replace. As a result, micro frontend architecture offers seamless testing ability. |
Stimulate the Growth of Your Organization by Migrating From Monolithic to Micro Front-end Architecture
Increase Scalability, Flexibility, Agility, and Cost-Efficiency With Seamless Migration
Top Factors To Consider Before Selecting Micro Front-End Architecture Framework
Once you are aware of the main challenges that may pose during the transition process, it’s essential to consider the top factors before setting up the migration. If you consider these parameters, the selection of an appropriate micro front-end framework becomes much easier and you get more time to market.
Also, our experts suggest that proper implementation of the migration from monolithic to micro frontend architecture is quite crucial, which helps to streamline and optimize the software development lifecycle. The top factors include:
Team Size:
While migrating your project from monolithic to micro front-end architecture, organizations must engage a large team with a pool of front-end developers to ensure the proper functioning of different modules and applications as a whole. Smaller teams may provide improved collaboration and communication, but it is suitable for monolithic architecture.
Communication Within Components:
With micro frontends, all codes of a single component should be stored inside the Custom Element. It uses DOM to relay important information between different components. You must leverage element attributes to enable effective communication between different types of components.
When there is no declarative approach, the object references are merely lost in the transition. Hence, you must ensure that though the modules are independent of each other, communication is established among them to provide improved application functionality.
Strategy for Component Categorization :
The micro front-ends enable the software development teams to upgrade, scale, or convert different components without incurring any kind of upfront investment by isolating component codes. It becomes pivotal to assign a child component to one team and share components with other teams. It helps to slice the components effectively.
Additionally, you must decide which components need to be sliced into web components and ones that are left as it is. As a result, you can convert the monolithic architecture into a micro frontend architecture without having to slice it too thin.
Usability of the Framework:
There are different types of micro-front architecture frameworks, such as Bit, Luigi, SystemJS, Single SPA, Federation module, Mosaic 9, and more. However, the trick is to not get overwhelmed by it and select the most appropriate framework that fits your project requirements and goals comprehensively.
You must note that each of these frameworks has its own set of pros and cons. As a result, an architecture that is perfect for one development ecosystem may not work for another scenario. Ensure that you choose frameworks that strengthen your web application development approach.
CSR or SSR Approach:
These are the times when search engine optimization is a key to taking your business to the next level in your industry. As a result, you need to ensure the proper functioning of your server-side rendering as well as a progressive enhancement for the front-end applications.
In cases when search engine optimization is not that much of an issue, you should look for client-side rendering. You should define your ideal goals even before you proceed with the implementation of micro frontends. When you are well-versed in your goals, you can choose the frameworks and processes that most definitely fit your goals.
Top-Notch Companies That Rely and Use Micro Front-End Architecture Frameworks
Micro frontends are to the client side of the application, whereas microservices are to the server side of the application. They are revolutionizing the way organizations change their team structures to deliver a modern user experience. The pathway leading to this scalability is through the migration from monolithic to micro frontend architecture.
By slicing monolithic applications into smaller frontend components, enterprises can streamline their development lifecycle even as their organization evolves and grow. The micro frontends enable small teams to deliver specific portions of the functionalities from the web application, which reduces cross-team dependency.
Given this ease of business execution, companies are readily planning a migration from monolithic to micro frontend architecture in their web applications. Below are some of the successful companies that have implemented the migration from monolithic to micro frontend architecture.
- IKEA:
The popular European furniture company has employed the migration of monolithic to micro frontend architecture to improve the customer experience. As a result, IKEA can split a system vertically to create self-contained systems through both frontend and backend developed by the same team.
- DAZN:
DAZN is a leading sports streaming service, founded in Europe. It has spread its operational facility to nine countries across the world. The chief architect working at DAZN is a significant advocate of micro frontends. It has empowered smaller teams at DAZN to work independently. In addition to this, it also enables organizations to pick up with speed and strike innovation within their business space.
- Upwork:
Upwork is one of the most popular platforms for independent business professionals to connect and collaborate with job seekers. Upwork switched to the micro frontend architecture in 2017 to modernize the overall user experience.
- HelloFresh:
HelloFresh is among the top international meal-kit companies situated in Berlin. It caters to customers as the largest meal-kit service provider in the United States. The development teams working at HelloFresh found the monolith frontend as a barrier to innovation, explaining the switch to micro frontend architecture.
- Zalando:
Zalando is a key eCommerce company, situated in Germany. However, they have more functions than simply selling products. To have a seamless customer experience, it recently paved the migration of monolithic to micro frontend architecture for large-sized websites.
Best Practices to Migrate Monolithic to Micro Frontend Architecture
Before we wind up this discussion on migrating from monolithic architecture to micro front-end architecture, it’s imperative to highlight the best practices, implementing which you can perform a successful transition.
- Ensure that the core and the integration, are in their simplest form in micro frontend architecture.
- Use a style guide such as material design or Bootstrap to standardize the UI/UX design principles.
- Ensure seamless and streamlined communication between the development team during the migration process that helps minimize conflicts and unnecessary project delays.
Conclusion
The migration from a monolithic architecture to micro front-end architecture is witnessed as a transitional journey in the software development lifecycle. It allows software developers to gain enhanced scalability, agility, and modularity, fostering innovation and adaptability in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
By breaking down monolithic structures into modular components, organizations can achieve greater flexibility and efficiency in their front-end development process. This approach enables seamless integration of new features and updates, while also facilitating easier maintenance and troubleshooting.
Micro front-end architecture also amplifies user experience by optimizing application responsiveness and performance. It enables development teams to integrate modern technologies and frameworks to craft intuitive and interactive interfaces that resonate with audience needs.
FAQs
Micro Frontend Architecture is a framework that applies the principles of microservices to frontend development. It involves breaking down large, monolithic frontend applications into smaller, more manageable parts called micro frontends. Each micro frontend operates independently, allowing teams to develop, deploy, and scale frontend components autonomously, promoting agility and collaboration.
Migrating from monolithic to micro front-end architecture offers benefits such as improved scalability, modularity, and agility. It enables teams to develop, deploy, and update frontend components independently, facilitating faster time-to-market and better resource utilization. Additionally, it enhances flexibility, resilience, and maintainability of applications in a dynamic and evolving environment.
Best practices for migrating from monolithic to micro front-end architecture include thorough planning and analysis of existing systems, identifying bounded contexts, establishing clear communication and collaboration among teams, adopting incremental migration strategies, implementing consistent standards and interfaces, and prioritizing automation for deployment, testing, and monitoring processes.
It is crucial to consider various vital factors before migrating from monolithic to micro front-end architecture. Firstly, you must take into account the complexity of existing systems, the expertise, and skill sets of the development team, and organizational readiness for change. The other essential criteria to consider include impact on development workflows, infrastructure requirements, potential performance implications, and alignment with business goals and long-term strategies.
The best company for migrating applications from monolithic to micro front-end architecture, such as TRooTech holds extensive experience in software development and modernization with full proficiency in frontend development technologies and a proven track record of successful migration projects. The company is known for providing comprehensive consultancy, strategic planning, and implementation services tailored to your specific needs.
More About Author
Vishal Nakum
Vishal Nakum is a tech enthusiast with a passion for exploring the latest developments in the world of technology. He has a keen interest in emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain, and enjoys keeping up-to-date with the latest trends and advancements in these fields. Vishal is an avid learner and is always on the lookout for new ways to expand his knowledge and skills. He is also a creative thinker and enjoys experimenting with new ideas and concepts. In his free time, Vishal enjoys playing video games and reading books on technology and science.