1. Different meanings
Microservices architecture is an approach to developing a single application as a set of small services, each running in its own process. A distributed system is a collection of independent computers that appear to users as a single related system.
2. Different concepts
Microservice architecture is something at the design level. It generally considers how to logically split the system, that is, vertical splitting. Distributed architecture is something at the deployment level, which emphasizes the composition of the physical level, that is, each subsystem of the system is deployed on different computers.
3. Different perspectives on problem solving
Microservice architecture solves the problem of how to divide a large application into multiple microservices. Distributed architecture solves the problem of how to divide a large system into multiple business modules. These business modules will be deployed on different machines and interact with data through interfaces.
4. Different deployment methods
Applications in the microservice architecture can be deployed on the same server, not necessarily scattered on multiple servers. Distributed architecture divides a large system into multiple business modules. These business modules are deployed on different machines and interact with each other through interfaces.
5. Different degrees of coupling
Each service in the microservice architecture is decoupled, and each service can run and update independently without affecting other services. There may be dependencies between various computers in a distributed architecture, requiring communication and data interaction through interfaces to ensure the normal operation of the system. To sum up, there are obvious differences between microservice architecture and distributed architecture in the above five aspects. Microservice architecture focuses more on the splitting and independent deployment of services, while distributed architecture focuses more on the coordination of different computers.