“Future Architecture: From Service-Oriented to Cloud-Native,” authored by Zhang Liang, Wu Sheng, Ao Xiao Jian, and Song Jingchao, published by Publishing House of Electronics Industry in April 2019.

The first author of this book is Zhang Liang, currently working at JD Finance. To enrich the content of the book, Zhang Liang invited his friends in the industry, Wu Sheng, Ao Xiao Jian, and myself, to co-author this ambitious work on “Future Architecture.” Below is an excerpt of his introduction to the book.

Origin of the Book

As professionals in the internet industry, we have always been at the forefront of change, constantly chasing the waves of technological advancement to avoid falling behind the pace of the times. Especially in recent years, internet architecture has undergone continuous evolution, transitioning from centralized architecture to distributed architecture, and then to cloud-native architecture. Cloud-native architecture has gradually become the protagonist of this era because it can address issues such as slow application upgrades, bloated architectures, and inability to iterate quickly.

In the midst of this wave of change, I watched as it altered the course of internet architecture and brought new ideas and developments to more and more companies and individuals. I embarked on a journey to learn and understand it, integrating it into my knowledge system to update the architectural map in my mind with the experiences and insights accumulated over the years.

In 2017 and 2018, I experienced these changes firsthand, making projects like Elastic-Job and Sharding-Sphere widely recognized in the industry, internationalizing the open-source projects I was responsible for, and meeting more mentors and friends. These experiences inspired me to put what I heard, saw, knew, and felt onto paper, connecting them into this book: “Future Architecture: From Service-Oriented to Cloud-Native.”

This book covers everything you want to know about distributed systems, service-oriented architecture, service mesh, containers, orchestration, cloud-native, and cloud databases.

It contains my well-considered insights and experiences accumulated over the years, as well as my struggles of abandoning and picking up the pen again because I feel responsible for the content of the book.

It also features chapters contributed by seasoned experts in the field, including Wu Sheng, the founder of Apache Incubator project SkyWalking and an APM expert; Song Jingchao, a CNCF Ambassador, cloud-native evangelist, and founder of the Cloud-Native Community; and Ao Xiao Jian, a service mesh evangelist.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Cloud-Native
• Chapter 2: Remote Communication
• Chapter 3: Configuration
• Chapter 4: Service Governance
• Chapter 5: Observing Distributed Services
• Chapter 6: Intrusive Service Governance Solutions
• Chapter 7: Kubernetes: The Cornerstone of Cloud-Native Ecosystem
• Chapter 8: Cross-Language Service Governance Solutions: Service Mesh
• Chapter 9: Cloud-Native Data Architecture
• Chapter 10: Distributed Database Middleware Ecosystem: ShardingSphere

Wings of Aspiration

The back cover of the book features the Holy Trinity statue standing in front of Old Trafford Stadium, chosen by Professor Zhang Liang as the background image.

On February 6, 1958, while returning from Yugoslavia after securing a spot in the European Cup semi-finals, the Manchester United team encountered the Munich air disaster, disappearing in the night sky. To revive Manchester United, surviving manager Matt Busby rebuilt the team with blood, tears, and sweat. Exactly 10 years after the Munich air disaster, on May 29, 1968, Busby led his new team to finally lift the European Cup, comforting the souls of those who had passed away! The Holy Trinity statue became an eternal memorial!

Faith, resilience, perseverance, miracles, and rebirth… These are the strengths I feel from this sculpture. Everyone will experience peaks and valleys, see mountains and deserts in their lifetime, and I hope this book not only brings practical knowledge of internet architecture but also embodies my blessings to you all: I hope that amidst the relentless struggles on this long journey, you can have your own faith and hope, and even after traversing countless deserts and oceans, you can see the light after experiencing numerous trials!