The IT industry has been grappling with mastering distributed systems for many decades. As these systems become increasingly complex, they continue to present considerable challenges to organizations developing digital products. Arguably, one of the most challenging aspects of distributed systems is reliability in the face of failure, particularly as modern distributed systems utilize large numbers of physical and virtual resources, including networking, computing, and storage.
From the early days of the low-level network protocols and the web, distributed systems have undergone a significant transformation, evolving into Service-Oriented Architectures (SOA) and, more recently, microservices. With cloud computing accelerating the growth of distributed systems even more rapidly, the distribution level has increased significantly. Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) and edge computing push the boundaries for the number of computing and processing agents into millions.
As L Peter Deutsch and others aptly point out in The Eight Fallacies of Distributed Computing, it’s a fallacy to assume that networks are always reliable. Even the most basic cloud services heavily rely on networking. This underscores the ongoing relevance of Deutsch’s insights, which were first shared in the nineties. In the era of cloud and edge computing, these observations are not only still relevant but perhaps even more so.
Cell-based architecture has emerged as a response to many challenges associated with distributed systems. First and foremost, it employs a bulkhead pattern to isolate failures to a fraction of the affected infrastructure footprint and prevent widespread impact. But that’s not all it can offer. Cells can also help organize large architectures into domain-bound deployment and delivery units, which provides essential sociotechnical benefits.
In the “Cell-Based Architectures: How to Build Scalable and Resilient Systems” article series, we aim to present many benefits this pattern offers to modern distributed architectures.
The articles, written by industry experts, will take readers on a journey of discovery and provide a comprehensive overview and in-depth analysis of many key aspects of cell-based architectures, as well as practical advice for applying this approach to existing and new architectures.
You can download the entire series collated in PDF format, in the associated eMag.
Series Contents
2
Taking Advantage of Cell-Based Architectures to Build Resilient and Fault-Tolerant Systems
In this article, the author focuses on cell-based architecture’s resiliency and fault-tolerance benefits through the lens of observability. Roa argues that comprehensive observability, already quite crucial for microservice-based architectures, is paramount to successfully implementing CBA, given the additional complexity of routing traffic to correct cells and the need to monitor cells’ health constantly.
3
Securing Cell-Based Architecture in Modern Applications
This article discusses how adopting cell-based architecture augments the security landscape of microservice-based systems. The author emphasizes the critical role of the cell router component as the entry point for accessing cells.
4
Architecting for High Availability in the Cloud with Cellular Architecture
This article delves into the implementation details of cell-based architecture, covering cell provisioning and management, application deployments, and a DNS-based cell routing mechanism. The author also discusses practical details about security, observability, and cost management aspects relevant to cell-based architectures.
5
Cell-Based Architecture Adoption Guidelines
This article discusses best practices, potential problems, and adoption guidelines for cell-based architectures. The author provides practical advice on how to introduce cell-based architecture into the existing technology platform to avoid common mistakes and allow organizations to fully realize cell-based architecture benefits.