Microservices is an architectural style for developing an application as a suite of small services called microservices that perform a single business function. A microservice is a collection of operations, effectively an API, that is remotely called, yet that is meant to be independently deployable. It can be implemented in various ways, including as a set of services or as event and channel definitions.

Microservices Runtime enables you to deliver microservices as a package that includes a set of related services, interfaces, document types, and triggers that subscribe to topics or queues, or as a set of related packages of this kind (for example, five packages relating to Human Resources functions).

Each microservice can run in its own Microservices Runtime and can communicate with lightweight mechanisms such as an HTTP resource API. However, you can also execute multiple microservices in the same Microservices Runtime. This solution enables you to separate microservices when needed, but also to group them when necessary. Suppose you have two microservices that need to be scaled together in similar ways (that is, when you need a new instance of one, you need a new instance of the other). If you discover that one microservice is more heavily loaded than the other, or needs to be enhanced or updated more often, you could deploy the two microservices to separate Microservices Runtime. If both microservices tend to be updated at the same time, you could cohost them in the same Microservices Runtime.

Microservices Runtime works with Istio Service Mesh. The microservices hosted on Microservices Runtime can be managed by the Istio Service Mesh control plane and can work with Istio components such as Envoy.

Microservices Runtime is fully compatible with Integration Server and can host services you develop using Software AG Designer and Integration Server. While Microservices Runtime is optimized to have a reduced disk and memory footprint, you can convert it into a full Integration Server by installing additional modules, such as support for an external database.

Software AG also offers a lightweight development tool called webMethods Service Designer, which comprises the Service Development functionality from Software AG Designer, Microservices Runtime, and Unit Test Framework.