Are you going to develop a solution with the intention of making it highly scalable? Read this article and learn about event driven architecture. Learn how it works and what its benefits are.
What is an event driven architecture?
Event driven architecture is an approach to system design, in which system components communicate through events rather than direct method or function calls.
Events are actions that occur in the system, such as creating an object or updating a record in a database. By using events as the communication mechanism, event driven architecture can offer greater scalability, flexibility, and responsiveness to system changes.
How does this architecture work?
In general terms, an event driven architecture works as follows:
- The different components of the system emit events when a change of state occurs or an important action is carried out. For example, a component of an e-commerce application could emit an event when a purchase is made.
- The events emitted by the different components of the system are transmitted through an event bus. The event bus is responsible for routing events to the components that are interested in them.
- Components that are interested in a specific event subscribe to it via the event bus. For example, a component that handles inventory in an e-commerce application could subscribe to the event that is emitted when a purchase is made.
- When an event is emitted, components that have subscribed to it receive the event via the event bus. Each component performs the corresponding actions based on the event received. For example, the component that handles inventory could update inventory in response to the purchase event.
In summary, an event driven architecture allows the different components of a system to communicate asynchronously through the emission and consumption of events. This makes it easy for components to operate independently and respond quickly to changes in the system.
These are the benefits:
- Scalability: The event driven architecture is highly scalable, since it can process large numbers of events simultaneously. Instead of waiting for users to take action, event driven systems automatically respond to events that occur.
- Flexibility: Event driven systems are more flexible than traditional systems, as they can quickly adapt to changing business requirements. This is because events are defined independently of the applications that process them.
- Improved response time: Event driven systems can respond almost instantaneously to events, enabling better decision making in real time.
- Greater efficiency: The event driven architecture allows systems to make better use of resources, since they only process relevant events. This reduces processing overhead and improves efficiency.
When to use this architecture and where to start
The event driven architecture can be a good choice for applications where speed and scalability are critical, and where events are expected to occur frequently and non-deterministically. Examples of typical use cases: IoT (Internet of Things) systems, real-time data processing applications, messaging and notification systems, and e-commerce applications.
To start using this architecture, you can follow the steps below:
- Identify the key events that are expected in your application. For example, in an e-commerce application, some key events might include purchasing a product, removing a product from the shopping cart, and creating a user account.
- Determine how events are related in your application and how they will be processed. This can include the design of workflows, the definition of business rules and the identification of potential problems.
- Choose an event platform that suits the needs of your application. Some popular options include: Apache Kafka, AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, and Microsoft Azure Event Hubs.
- Develop your application using event driven architecture. This may include creating event processors, defining topics and subscriptions, integrating with third-party systems, and testing the solution.
- Monitor and adjust the architecture as it is deployed and used. This can include monitoring performance metrics and tuning event processors to improve scalability and speed.
In conclusion, event driven architecture is an appealing option for designing scalable and flexible systems in the age of modern technology. However, it is important to carefully consider the challenges and trade-offs involved before adopting it as a solution. Remember that at MyTaskPanel Consulting we have the right specialists to help you.
