Web apps have clearly taken their place in the digital landscape, leading businesses to evolve with cutting-edge technologies and rising safety expectations.
As the web app market stays competitive and the demand for secure solutions increases, considering web app architecture has become more important than ever. This "foundation" of web app development is the backbone of building an app for your business. A thoughtfully designed architecture ensures that your web apps remain responsive, secure, and scalable as your business grows.
In this article, we’ll dive into the components, types, and models of web application architecture. With this knowledge, you’ll be well-equipped to confidently choose the right web app architecture for your needs. Keep reading to learn more!
DNS
The abbreviation DNS stands for the domain name system. It's a key element that matches IP addresses to domain names. In this way, a particular server receives a request sent by an end user.
Load Balancer
It directs incoming requests from app users to one of the multiple servers, which distributes the load more evenly when too many users are active at the same time. Generally, web app services exist as various copies mirroring one another to enable all servers to process requests in the same manner. Also, the load balancer is an element that distributes tasks to prevent them from overcharging.
Web App Servers
This component is basically an app deployment descriptor. It processes the user's requests and sends responses back to an initial browser. To make this happen, it refers to the back-end infrastructure, including the database, job queue, cache server, etc.
Database
The meaning of this component is pretty much straightforward. It offers various instruments to perform, delete, organize, and update data entries. Mainly, web app servers interact with job servers without any intermediary.
Caching Service
The component grants easy and quick data storage and search. When the user receives the info from the server, search results can be cached. As a result, future requests will be returned much faster.
These are the scenarios when caching is efficient:
- Slow or repeated computation
- When a user receives similar results for a specific request
Job Queue (Optional)
This one has two components: a job queue and servers that process those jobs. Many web servers operate a large number of jobs of minor importance. A job that has to be fulfilled goes in the queue and will be operated according to the schedule.
Full-Text Search Service (Optional)
There are plenty of web apps that support search by text feature. After this, an application sends the relevant results to an end user. The whole process is called a full-text search, and it can find the requested data by a keyword among all the documents available in a system.
CDN
The abbreviation CDN stands for the content delivery system. This system sends static content, including images and other files. Basically, it includes multiple servers that are closer to the geographical locations of end users than an app's database. As a result, CDN delivers content more effectively to users around the globe, drastically reducing load times.
What is a 3-tier Architecture?
The majority of web apps are created through the separation of their principal function into layers/tiers. Respectively, this enables you to quickly and effortlessly replace or upgrade those layers independently. It is called a multi- or a 3-tier architecture.
In a 3-tier web architecture, there are three layers/tiers:
- Presentation (client) layer
- Application (business) layer
- Data access layer
It's possible to say that this modern web app architecture is the safest and most secure one. It can be explained by the fact that the client doesn't access the data directly. Application servers can be deployed on multiple machine providers, which enables higher scalability, increased performance, and better efficiency.
Each tier can be scaled independently; therefore, this architecture can be scaled horizontally. In addition, it also significantly improves the overall data integrity as data will go through the app server, which is the one that decides exactly how and by whom data will be accessed. This fantastic perk is an easy and cost-effective solution in case of new company management.
Web Application Architecture Best Practices
Here, we've gathered the top 5 recommendations for business owners to consider while working on web app architecture for their projects and building cooperation with tech partners.
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Think of a proper web application architecture at the earliest stages
Without a comprehensive structure, your application will turn into a labyrinth of messy elements and components that are too hard to handle.
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Don't copy somebody's success
The top mistake is picking a web application architecture of a successful company and simply replicating it. In reality, a successful architecture is one that corresponds with your business goals and ideas, not theirs.
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Pay attention to your technical limitations
It's not always possible to get the best and most successful elements in your web application architecture. However, with the proper attention to quality attributes and realistic business expectations, you will get the maximum from all the components you have.
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Eliminate the problems right away
Don't wait for the web app release to fix the problems in its architecture. The earlier you address the issues, the more reliable core features it will have.
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Create a checklist of successful web app features
To make sure your web app has achieved its goal, it's good practice to note your expectations from the very beginning and discuss their possibility and measurable KPIs with your tech partner.
The possible checklist may include these features:
- System flexibility
- Reusable components
- Well-written code
- Scalability
- System stability
- Bug detection ease
- Adherence to security standards
- Fields for user feedback
- Crash prevention
- Ease of use
- Fast response
- Automatic deployment
Summing Up
A solid, fast-working, scalable, and safe web application architecture is necessary for every web platform-based digital product, especially for business. For this reason, it's advisable that the architecture is developed and implemented by software engineering experts with experience in building similar solutions tailored to your specific industry.
Intellectsoft has been creating digital solutions for companies of all sizes in Fintech, Healthcare, construction, hospitality, logistics, eCommerce, and many other industries for over 17 years. We provide web development services to startups, SMBs, and enterprises worldwide and create solutions with the most efficient, safe, and flexible web app architecture.
So, if you're looking for a development team that will ensure top-quality modern web application architecture, here are only a few reasons to choose our software engineering experts:
- Our talent pool covers dozens of programming tools and technologies for building web, mobile, desktop, cloud, and other solutions.
- We have successfully delivered over 600 digital solutions for businesses. Here, you can see our most prominent cases.
- Our engineering workforce is located in 21 countries across the Atlantic.
- The size of our clients varies from early-stage startups to Fortune 500 enterprises like Audi, Harley Davidson, Universal, Nestle, Melco, and others.
If you're ready to explore the custom web application architecture we can create for your business, don't hesitate to contact us. Our team will ensure your product has the perfect modern web app architecture.
