Manual Service Routing
Manual Service Routing is a networking and microservices concept where developers explicitly configure and manage the routing of requests between services or components in a distributed system, without relying on automated service discovery or load balancing mechanisms. It involves hard-coding or manually specifying endpoints, IP addresses, or URLs for service communication, often used in simpler architectures or during development and testing phases. This approach provides direct control over traffic flow but requires manual updates when service locations change.
Developers should learn and use Manual Service Routing in scenarios where systems are small-scale, static, or in early development stages, as it simplifies setup and debugging by avoiding the complexity of automated tools. It is also useful for testing specific service interactions, implementing custom routing logic, or in environments where automated service discovery is not feasible due to constraints like network isolation or legacy systems. However, it is not recommended for production microservices architectures due to scalability and maintenance challenges.