Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Managed Services)
Introduction
Single Page Applications (SPAs) and mobile apps can use APIs to communicate with a server and retrieve or manipulate data. This can be used to display data on the frontend, or to send data to the server to be stored.
This article constitutes a component of a comprehensive collection of web architecture pattern references.
Single Page Application Frontend
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Managed Services)
Backend for SPA and Mobile App (Serverless)
Multi Page Application (Integrated Web)
Single Page Application with Worker Process
API Technologies
For the backend of a mobile app or SPA, various API technologies can be used, including:
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REST (Representational State Transfer): This is a popular, lightweight, and scalable API technology that uses HTTP requests to perform operations on resources.
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GraphQL: This is a newer API technology that provides a more flexible and efficient alternative to REST, allowing clients to request only the data they need.
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gRPC: This is a high-performance, open-source framework for building scalable APIs. It uses the Protocol Buffers data format and supports a variety of programming languages.
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SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol): This is an XML-based protocol for exchanging structured information in the implementation of web services.
These API technologies can be used to create APIs that can be consumed by mobile apps or SPAs. The choice of technology depends on the specific requirements of the project, such as performance, security, and data exchange requirements.
Architecture
The architecture for all the above API technologies will alomost same. We are considering the REST API for now as that is the most popular option.
There are different solutions and services to host the SPA Backend on cloud, here are some of the popular:
- VM (eg: EC2)
- Container Services (eg: ECS)
- Managed Services (eg: Elastic Beanstalk)
- Serverless (eg: Lambda)
- Kubernetes (eg: EKS)
Among the above list, we’re covering only Serverless and Managed Services.
Managed Services
Using managed services like Amazon Web Services (AWS) Elastic Beanstalk and Microsoft Azure App Service provides several benefits, including:
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Simplified deployment and management: Managed services take care of infrastructure management and deployment, allowing developers to focus on writing code and delivering features.
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Automated scaling: Managed services automatically scale application instances based on demand, providing high availability and performance without manual intervention.
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Reduced operational overhead: By outsourcing infrastructure management, organizations can reduce operational overhead and focus on delivering value to their customers.
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Improved security: Managed services provide built-in security features, such as automatic patching and secure data storage, reducing the security burden on organizations.
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Easy integration with other services: Managed services integrate seamlessly with other services, allowing organizations to leverage the full suite of cloud services to build and deploy their applications.
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Cost-effectiveness: Managed services offer a cost-effective solution for deploying and managing applications, with flexible pricing models and the ability to pay for only the resources used.
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Global availability: Managed services are designed to be globally available, providing fast and reliable access to applications from anywhere in the world.
A complete architecture diagram with frontend and backend would be as follows:
