AKF Principles for Microservice Splitting: X‑Axis, Y‑Axis, and Z‑Axis Strategies

When building a cluster, the first step is to identify the problems that need to be solved, such as single‑point failures, limited capacity, and insufficient connection performance.

To resolve these issues, servers are expanded into a cluster using replication patterns (master‑slave, master‑master, master‑backup), effectively turning a single instance into multiple instances.

The article introduces a concept called the AKF principle, one of the microservice design principles, which includes three axes of splitting:

Microservice Splitting Principle – AKF

X‑Axis Splitting (horizontal replication) involves running multiple instances of a monolithic system, creating a cluster with load balancing, and using patterns such as master‑master, master‑backup, or master‑slave.

Y‑Axis Splitting (business‑oriented) separates frequently accessed functionalities into independent services, allowing different Redis instances to handle distinct business workloads.

Z‑Axis Splitting (data‑oriented) further partitions data based on access patterns, such as geographic regions, to distribute load across multiple Redis instances handling the same business logic.

In summary, X‑axis splitting provides horizontal replication for high availability, Y‑axis splitting divides services by business functionality, and Z‑axis splitting separates data by access characteristics, together forming a comprehensive AKF strategy for scalable microservice architectures.