Visualization of Information System Architectures Based on Microservices

Abstract

This article substantiates the importance and necessity of visualizing the architecture of information systems built on the principles of microservice architecture. This task is key both in the process of developing new systems and in optimizing the operation of existing ones. To provide complete and up-to-date information about the structure and interaction of microservices, an approach is required that is based on the automatic collection and processing of information about the relationships between microservices and their internal structure, followed by visualization in architecture diagrams. The study revealed that specialized software trace logs must be used to visualize the architecture. As part of the work, aspects of tracing were considered in the context of the OpenTelemetry project, an open-source tool designed for collecting telemetry data from programs and analyzing them. The author suggested using the C4 model as a visualization method. This approach is a relatively new concept for modeling software systems, including context, containers, components, code, and their relationships. The main goal of the research was to automate the process of creating diagrams based on data obtained from OpenTelemetry to simplify the understanding of the structure and interactions of microservices in the system. The result of the research was the development of algorithms for collecting and converting trace data to create C4 diagrams, as well as the development of software for their implementation.