Extensible Database APIs and their role in Software Architecture
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The document discusses the evolution of software architecture, emphasizing the importance of extensible database APIs in the context of agile development and microservices. It outlines various phases of development from rapid prototyping to consolidation, highlighting key features and considerations such as database schema, performance, and security. The paper advocates for a multi-model database solution with an extensible API, particularly highlighting ArangoDB's capabilities for creating configurable and performance-critical microservices.
Extensible Database APIs and their role in Software Architecture
- 1. Extensible Database APIs and their role in Software Architecture Max Neunhöffer Education Tech + Cold Beer (SF) 4 March 2015 www.arangodb.com
- 2. Typical structure of an application Database ←→ App Server ←→ Browser ←→ Mobile App (keeps state) (is stateless) (on user’s machine) Communications flow: data −→ create view −→ display view persist ←− react ←− user action complex queries different views for different frontends want to scale DB and app server separately 1
- 3. Agile development Facts of life as a software developer/architect Software grows, we release frequently and quickly, give rapid feedback, one learns as one goes. In the beginning . . . the data schema is unclear the scope of the app is unclear the list of front end devices is unclear protocols are not yet sorted out performance bottlenecks are unknown security requirements and problems are unclear All these are good things! 2
- 4. Microservices These days, everybody talks about microservices: http://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html Features of a microservice architecture It is a “particular way of designing software app- lications as suites of independently deployable services.” We cut the application into services, built around business capabilities. They are independently deployable (fully automatically!) have well-defined interfaces (often via REST/HTTP), and typically run in their own process. 3
- 5. Initial phase: hack away, rapid prototyping Features: focused on quick results the database schema keeps changing performance does not really matter no security the user interface undergoes many changes often just a single target frontend 4
- 6. Consolidation phase Features: home in on protocols, stabilize them schema stabilizes maybe more devices and different front-ends user interface is understood better start to think about security observe first performance problems add unit tests 5
- 7. Polishing phase Features: quality becomes more important security as well we know, which front-ends must be supported the protocols are fixed and documented the schema is fixed, we want to enforce it performance matters 6
- 8. The role of the Database early late schema: flexible, quick results enforcement protocol: use standard API use specialized services authorization: does not matter matters greatly (want to be flexible) security: does not matter matters greatly (want to be hardened) performance: does not matter mission critical (no real example data) (have a lot of data) Conclusion: DB needs to change! 7
- 9. WANTED: (better alive than dead) a smart database that can be adapted over time whose API is extensible can run performance critical complex queries in the DB, expose them as data-centric microservices via REST has configurable consistency has configurable security features 8
- 10. is a multi-model database (document store & graph database), is open source and free (Apache 2 license), offers convenient queries (via HTTP/REST and AQL), including joins between different collections, configurable consistency guarantees using transactions is memory efficient by shape detection, uses JavaScript throughout (Google’s V8 built into server), API extensible by JS code in the Foxx Microservice Framework, offers many drivers for a wide range of languages, is easy to use with web front end and good documentation, and enjoys good community as well as professional support. 9
- 11. Extensible through JavaScript and Foxx The HTTP API of ArangoDB can be extended by user-defined JavaScript code, that is executed in the DB server for high performance. This is formalised by the Foxx microservice framework, which allows to implement complex, user-defined APIs with direct access to the DB engine. Very flexible and secure authentication schemes can be implemented conveniently by the user in JavaScript. Because JavaScript runs everywhere (in the DB server as well as in the browser), one can use the same libraries in the back-end and in the front-end. =⇒ can implement your own data-centric microservices 10