Using an app server does not mean you build a monolith – Mark Little / Java One

This quote is part of my tech quote explained series from Java One / Open World 2016.

Mark’s Quote from Java One 2016:

“Using an app server does not mean you build a monolith.”

Mark Little Red Hat. Lead JBoss Technical Direction / Research Develepment. @nmcl

 

 

Explanation:

The following explanation is mine, not Mark’s:

There is a lot of FUD about microservices these days. Some people assume that existing technologies such as application servers will be completely replaced by the new microservices trend. Sometimes application servers seem almost like an anti pattern for microservices, which is of course not true.

The dominant (and IMHO overused) example for a successful microservices architecture is Netflix. Netflix has been using Tomcat for many years as an web application server because they understood the importance of an abstraction for a “container” (obviously not in sense of a OS Linux/Docker container). Their former CTO Adrian Cockraft once explained that the “container” (again not in a Docker sense) you use doesn’t really matter, be it Tomcat, WebLogic or now a days Docker. What matters is that you have a unique abstraction that allows you to run and schedule your artifacts.

Mark has a blog posting talking about container-less development. I spoke about microservices at the OTN Latam Tour (see my trip report and Tim’s posting).

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