SOFTWARE ANALYSIS AND DESIGN 361
Assignment
RECTOR NHLANHLA PHAKULA, LWANDILE NKOSI, RIFUMO MATHEBULA, THATO MOFOKENG
601460, 601462, 601108, 601447
Table of Content
Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 2
a) Monolithic Architecture and Challenges Faced by Uber .................................................... 2
b) Key Milestones in the Transition to SOA ........................................................................ 3
c) Adoption of Microservices and APIs and Benefits Realised............................................... 5
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 6
Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 7
Introduction
Founded in 2009 by Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick, Uber reshaped urban transportation
with its smartphone app, Uber Cab, which debuted in San Francisco in 2010. Because the
website allowed users to order rides, track them, and pay digitally, it quickly went global.
However, the first monolithic architecture struggled to satisfy increasing demands, requiring
important architectural changes. This paper examines Uber's evolution through three phases:
the early monolithic system, the transition to Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), and the
eventual adoption of microservices and APIs, each of which addressed scalability issues and
allowed diversification into services such as Uber Eats and Uber Freight.
a) Monolithic Architecture and Challenges Faced by Uber
• In a monolithic design, all functionality, including ride requests, payments, driver
tracking, and user management, is built into a single codebase and deployed as a unit.
• At first, Uber's backend was a [Link]-based monolithic application. It was appropriate
when the company operated in a single city. However, when activities grew, many
concerns came up:
Challenges Faced:
1. Scalability Bottlenecks:
• Scaling a certain part of the app, such as trip matching, required expanding the
entire application.
• This resulted in inefficient resource utilisation.
2. Difficulties in Deployment:
• Changes to one module required system-wide testing and deployment.
• The deployment frequency was low and costly.
3. Tight Coupling:
• Tight coupling between modules made the system vulnerable.
• A single problem could have implications for the entire application.
4. Limited Development Agility:
• Teams were unable to work independently.
• New feature development takes longer to complete.
5. Poor Fault Isolation:
A single component failure can disrupt the entire system.
Diagram 1: Monolithic Architecture
b) Key Milestones in the Transition to SOA
As Uber's platform grew quickly, it became clear that the monolithic system was unable to
handle international expansion or different service offerings (such as UberEats and UberPool).
Uber used a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) to promote flexibility, scalability, and
developer agility.
Key Milestones in Uber's SOA Evolution
1. Services Decompositions (2014-2015):
• Uber started breaking apart its monolith into individual services.
• Services were organised according to their functionality, such as a dedicated
service for trip management, another for user profiles, and so on.
2. Standardized Communication via APIs:
• To simplify service engagement, RESTful APIs were implemented.
• Services could now communicate over HTTP or RPC, with well-defined
contracts.
3. Introduction of Message Queues:
• Uber used messaging systems such as Apache Kafka to provide asynchronous
communication between services.
4. Scalability Enhancements:
• Each service can be installed and scaled independently, which ensures optimal
resource use.
5. Development Autonomy:
• Teams were reconstructed around services, allowing for parallel development
and fast iteration.
6. Deployment Pipelines
• Uber implemented CI/CD pipelines to automate testing and deployment of
individual services.
Diagram 2: Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) at Uber
c) Adoption of Microservices and APIs and Benefits Realised
As Uber developed globally and added new services such as UberEats, Freight, and
autonomous car technology, it became important to transition from SOA to a more scalable,
adaptable, and robust architecture: microservices.
Uber's Microservice Architecture
Microservices are an improvement on SOA in which services are more detailed, may be
deployed separately, and often control their own data and logic. Each microservice at
Uber is accountable for a specific business capability and is developed, implemented, and
scaled autonomously.
Key Benefits Realised:
1. Scalability:
• Specific services, such as "Trip Pricing", can be modified based on load without
affecting others.
2. Development Speed and Team Autonomy:
• Individual services are managed by small teams, which increases speed and
decreases dependency.
3. Fault Isolation:
• Failures happen only to particular services, reducing system-wide delays.
4. Technology Diversity:
• Teams may choose a variety of technologies (e.g., Go, Java, Python) depending
on their service requirements.
5. Continuous Deployment:
• Allows for faster release of features and issue fixes.
6. API-Driven Ecosystem:
• Uber's APIs allow integration of external services and partners, therefore
building a bigger ecosystem.
Diagram 3: Microservices and API Integration at Uber
Conclusion
Uber's architectural journey from a monolithic system to a service-oriented and, finally, a
microservices architecture shows how large-scale digital platforms must evolve to maintain
global growth. The change allowed Uber to improve scalability, launch products more quickly,
isolate faults, and serve a larger ecosystem via APIs. This journey shows the value of
architectural flexibility in modern software systems.
Bibliography
Boone, R., 2019. Uber Infrastructure in 2019: Improving Reliability, Driving Customer
Satisfaction. [Online]
Available at: Uber Infrastructure in 2019: Improving Reliability, Driving Customer
Satisfaction
[Accessed 21 April 2025].
Fowler, J. L. a. M., 2014. Microservices. [Online]
Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 21 April 2025].
Gluck, A., 2020. Introducing Domain-Oriented Microservice Architecture. [Online]
Available at: [Link]
[Accessed 21 April 2025].
Newman, S., 2015. Building Microservices. s.l.:O'Reilly Media, Inc..
Woolf, G. H. a. B., 2003. Enterprise Integration Patterns: Designing, Building, and
Deploying Messaging Solutions. 1st ed. s.l.:Addison-Wesley Professional.