{"id":8,"date":"2021-10-23T11:10:52","date_gmt":"2021-10-23T11:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/18.141.20.153\/?p=8"},"modified":"2025-08-22T08:15:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T08:15:50","slug":"how-to-orchestrate-queue-based-microservices-with-aws-step-functions-and-amazon-sqs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/learning.workfall.com\/learning\/blog\/how-to-orchestrate-queue-based-microservices-with-aws-step-functions-and-amazon-sqs\/","title":{"rendered":"How to orchestrate Queue-based Microservices with AWS Step Functions and Amazon SQS?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 10<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

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Since the term was coined in 2011, Microservices have been making waves among forward-thinking application development corporations. Microservices help decouple application components so that they run and fail independently, increasing the overall fault tolerance of the system. When your application is decoupled you need them to communicate in a seamless way to avoid any delay, this is where Queue-based Microservices come into the picture. Using AWS Step Functions and Amazon SQS you can easily orchestrate Queue-based Microservices. In this blog, we will simulate inventory verification requests from incoming orders in an e-commerce application as part of an order processing workflow. We will see how to use AWS Step Functions, AWS Lambda, and Amazon SQS to design and run a serverless workflow that orchestrates a message queue-based Microservice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, we will demonstrate step-by-step instructions on how to orchestrate Queue-based Microservices with AWS Step Functions and Amazon SQS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AWS Step Functions – Recap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

AWS Step Functions<\/a> is a serverless function orchestrator that makes it easy to coordinate multiple AWS service components of distributed applications and microservices using visual workflows. It is a reliable way to coordinate components and step through the functions of your application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When your distributed applications become complex, the complexity of managing them also grows. With its built-in operational controls, Step Functions manages sequencing, error handling, retry logic, and state, and provides a graphical console to arrange and visualize the components of your application as a series of steps. This makes it easy to build and run multi-step applications. Step Functions automatically triggers and tracks each step, and retries when there are errors, so your application executes in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amazon SQS – Recap<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Queues are a great way to mix and match software structures. They allow non-simultaneous communication across separate systems, which is particularly beneficial when the system\u2019s output is uneven. Amazon\u2019s version of queues is called Amazon SQS<\/a> or Simple Queue Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amazon SQS is a hosted queue that allows you to link and disconnect distributed software systems and components. It is safe, durable, and available. SQS removes the complexity and expense of managing and operating message-oriented middleware, allowing developers to concentrate on unique work. SQS allows you to transmit, store, and receive messages at any volume between software components without losing messages or necessitating the availability of other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hands-on<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In this blog, we’ll look at how to utilize AWS Step Functions<\/a>, Amazon SQS<\/a>, and AWS Lambda<\/a> to create a serverless workflow that orchestrates a message queue-based microservice. The storing of inventory verification requests from incoming orders in an e-commerce application will be our use case for SQS in this hands-on. As part of an order processing workflow, this hands-on will mimic inventory verification requests from incoming orders on an e-commerce platform. Inventory verification requests will be sent to a queue on SQS via Step Functions. We’ll use AWS Step Functions to create the process. A microservice will be used to verify inventories in the workflow. A queue is used by many microservices to receive requests. To illustrate the microservice in this hands-on, we’ll utilize an AWS Lambda function. A task state is used by the state machine to place a message on an SQS queue. A callback pattern is set for this task state. When you add to the end of a sentence, it’s called an appendix Step Functions will add a task token to the JSON payload and wait for a callback if you add waitForTaskToken to your resource. By contacting the Step Functions API, the microservice can return a response to Step Functions. Your inventory microservice will be an AWS Lambda function that utilizes a queue to buffer requests. It will verify inventory after retrieving a request and then deliver the result to Step Functions. A callback pattern is created when a job in Step Functions is set up in this manner. Callback patterns allow you to integrate asynchronous tasks in your workflow, such as the inventory verification microservice of this hands-on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To implement this, we will do the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n