Publication Type

Conference Proceeding Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2023

Abstract

In microservice architectures, developers can face significant problems understanding the structure of the system and how the different microservices interact. This difficulty results from the distributed nature of the system, and the abundance of inter-service communication within the architecture. We want to determine if network visualisations can address these problems given their ability to convey complex topologies. However, to identify what architectural characteristics should be visualised, and how this should be done, we must first determine the needs of microservice developers. This paper identifies and presents the impact and frequency of problems faced by a cohort of microservice developers using the results of an online survey. Our findings indicate that the most frequent problems were topology related and the highest impact problems were those related to system faults and data structures. Our results support the use of network visualisations to address microservice development problems and provide context that will allow future visualisations of any type to better address these problems.

Keywords

development problems, documentation, microservice visualisation, Microservices

Discipline

Software Engineering

Research Areas

Software and Cyber-Physical Systems

Publication

2023 IEEE Working Conference on Software Visualization (VISSOFT): Bogota, October 1-2: Proceedings

First Page

62

Last Page

72

ISBN

9798350308297

Identifier

10.1109/VISSOFT60811.2023.00017

Publisher

IEEE

City or Country

Piscataway, NJ

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1109/VISSOFT60811.2023.00017

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