Microservices have become a prominent architectural style in modern software development. By breaking down large monoliths into smaller, more manageable services, organizations can move faster, scale more easily, and innovate with fewer dependencies. However, microservices also introduce their own set of challenges, like how to coordinate multiple services, handle distributed state, and maintain performance at scale.

That’s where Golang (also known as Go) comes into play. It has rapidly become a go-to language for building and orchestrating microservices, especially for teams focused on DevOps and infrastructure. In this post, we’ll explore why Go is so popular for microservices, how to get started, and how platforms such as Tempest leverage Go to simplify life for administrators.

What is a microservice-based architecture?

Microservices are an architectural style in which software is composed of small, independent services that communicate with each other using lightweight mechanisms (usually HTTP or messaging queues). Each service typically handles a single, well-defined functionality, and is loosely coupled from other services.

Key characteristics of a microservice architecture

A microservice-based application typically has the following characteristics:

• Each microservice able to use its own technology stack or database. This helps teams choose the best tool for the job.

• Services can be updated, scaled, and deployed independently.

• They’re resilient, and failures in one service often do not bring down the entire system, as other services can continue to operate.

• Each service can be scaled out independently based on resource demand.

Where does Golang for microservices come in?

Go is a statically typed, compiled programming language developed at Google in late 2007, as an alternative to the complexities of the existing languages that were popular at the time (C++, Python, Java). Go leveraged by organizations like Meta, Netflix and Uber for its simplicity, performance, and built-in support for concurrency.

The fundamental philosophy for Go is to foster a lean, easily maintainable codebase with minimal boilerplate, while embracing modern concurrency patterns and rapid development cycles.

“Besides its better-known aspects such as built-in concurrency and garbage collection, Go's design considerations include rigorous dependency management, the adaptability of software architecture as systems grow, and robustness across the boundaries between components.”

Source: go.dev

When combined with Go’s strong standard library and tooling (such as built-in testing, profiling, and code formatting tools), it’s not surprising that Go is a popular choice for microservice architectures that require reliability and performance.

What use cases is Go best for?

Go’s design philosophy makes it particularly well-suited for a variety of high-performance applications. One standout example is high-throughput APIs and services, where Go’s concurrency model shines by enabling systems to handle large volumes of requests or process streaming data efficiently in real time. Goroutines and channels allow for seamless parallelism without overwhelming system resources, making it easier to maintain responsiveness even under heavy loads.

In the realm of infrastructure tools, Go’s performance and portability across operating systems have propelled it to the forefront of DevOps innovation. Major projects such as Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform leverage Go to deliver fast, reliable execution while maintaining a relatively small memory footprint. This also simplifies building and maintaining cross-platform solutions—a crucial advantage when managing diverse cloud environments.

Another domain where Go excels is network applications. Proxies, load balancers, and communication-heavy microservices all benefit from Go’s robust standard library, which reduces the need for numerous external dependencies. Developers can quickly spin up HTTP servers, manage TCP connections, or implement custom networking protocols, all within a framework designed for concurrency at scale.

Finally, CLI tools showcase Go’s strengths in portability and ease of deployment. By compiling to a single binary, Go eliminates complex runtime requirements and simplifies distribution. Teams can build command-line interfaces for automation, system management, or specialized tasks, and deploy them across different platforms without worrying about missing libraries or mismatched dependencies.

Why is Go the language of choice for infrastructure and DevOps teams?

Over the last decade, Go has become increasingly popular in DevOps and infrastructure circles, for several reasons. One reason is its performance and reliability. Thanks to a minimal runtime and rapid startup times, Go-based services are well-suited to distributed systems where speed and resilience are critical. Fast, responsive behavior and low overhead can make a significant difference when dealing with high-traffic microservices or large-scale orchestration tasks.

Additionally, Go boasts a strong standard library that covers many of the core capabilities needed to build microservices. Whether it’s serving HTTP requests, handling cryptography, or encoding and decoding JSON, Go provides first-class support without requiring a host of external packages. This not only simplifies development but also reduces the risk of dependency conflicts and security vulnerabilities.

Go also offers built-in testing and tooling that streamlines the process of creating robust infrastructure software. With testing, benchmarking, and profiling utilities included by default, developers can quickly implement reliable test suites and performance benchmarks. This “batteries-included” approach contributes to more reliable, maintainable projects, an essential aspect when constructing long-lived systems.

Finally, the community and ecosystem surrounding Go have played an instrumental role in its adoption among DevOps teams. A vast array of libraries, frameworks, and tools tailored to microservices and operational tasks ensures that common challenges like logging, monitoring, or message passing can be tackled without reinventing the wheel. This thriving ecosystem, combined with Go’s strong core features, makes it an obvious choice for building modern, high-performance infrastructure.

Best Practices using Go

When building microservices with Go, consider these three best practices to establish a strong foundation:

1. Choose the Right Framework

Evaluate whether you need a framework or if Go’s standard library meets your needs.

• Standard Library (net/http): A popular choice for lightweight HTTP servers, offering simplicity and flexibility.

• Popular Frameworks:

  • Gin: Provides a martini-like API with enhanced performance.

  • Echo: Known for its high performance and minimal memory footprint.

  • Fiber: Emphasizes speed and ease of use, inspired by Express.js.

  • Go-Kit: A microservices toolkit featuring service abstractions, discovery, and metrics.

  • Micro: Offers a pluggable architecture with built-in support for RPC and service registry.

2. Write Idiomatic, Maintainable Code

Adopt Go’s conventions and best practices to keep your code clear and scalable:

• Consistency is Key: Use built-in tools like go fmt and go vet to enforce code style and detect common errors.

• Simple and Clear: Stick to idiomatic patterns for error handling, naming, and structure. This makes your codebase easier to understand and maintain over time.

3. Leverage the Ecosystem and Built-In Tooling

Make the most of Go’s rich ecosystem to streamline development and ensure reliability:

• Dependency Management: Use Go Modules to handle external packages seamlessly.

• Testing: Employ Go’s native testing framework (go test) to build reliable, well-tested microservices.

• Profiling and Debugging: Utilize tools like pprof to identify performance bottlenecks and optimize your service.

Useful Go Resources

1. Official Go Documentation: The authoritative source for all aspects of the language.

2. A Tour of Go: An interactive tutorial that teaches Go fundamentals step by step.

3. Awesome Go: A community-curated list of Go libraries, frameworks, and tools.

4. Go by Example: Simple, focused code snippets that illustrate how to use Go language features in real-world scenarios.

5. Go Blog: Official updates, deep dives, and tutorials on Go features and development practices.