CODEWITHSUNDEEP
web-serviceshttpasynchronousmicroservices
user3096803
user3096803

Reputation:

What is the correct way to handle multiple levels of network requests?

I have a service which accepts HTTP requests from a customer site. The service then sends an HTTP request to a transactional email provider with information provided in the initial request to the service. The workflow looks like this:

CustomerSite ⟷ EmailService ⟷ TransactionEmailProvider

I can think of two possibilities for handling requests so that errors from the TransactionalEmailProvider can be reported to the CustomerSite.

  1. The EmailService immediately sends an asynchronous request to TransactionalEmailProvider when it receives a request from a CustomerSite. The EmailService immediately responds to the CustomerSite with a success code if the request was properly formed. If a failure happened when sending a request to the TransactionalEmailProvider, the EmailService sends a failure notification using a POST request back to the EmailService using a webhook implementation.
  2. The EmailService sends a request to the TransactionalEmailProvider, and awaits a response before responding to the CustomerSite request with either a success or a failure.

Right now I'm implementing the first version because I don't want the responsiveness of the EmailService to be dependent on the responsiveness of the TransactionalEmailProvider.

Is this a reasonable way to process HTTP requests that are dependent upon a second level of HTTP requests? Are there situations in which one would be preferred over the other?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 27

Answers (1)

Constantin Galbenu
Constantin Galbenu

Reputation: 17683

Is this a reasonable way to process HTTP requests that are dependent upon a second level of HTTP requests? Are there situations in which one would be preferred over the other?

It really depends on the system requirements, it depends on how you want to behave in case of failure of some of its components or under varying workload.

If you want your system to be reactive or scalable you should use asynchronous requests whenever possible. For this your system should be message driven. You could read more about reactive system here. This seems like your first option.

If you want a simpler system then use synchronous/blocking requests, like your option no. 2

Upvotes: 1

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