  Microservice Architecture (MSA) is a novel service-based architectural style
for distributed software systems. Compared to Service-oriented Architecture
(SOA), MSA puts a stronger focus on self-containment of services. Each
microservice is responsible for realizing exactly one business or technological
capability that is distinct from other services' capabilities. Additionally, on
the implementation and operation level, microservices are self-contained in
that they are developed, tested, deployed and operated independently from each
other. Next to these characteristics that distinguish MSA from SOA, both
architectural styles rely on services as building blocks of distributed
software architecture and hence face similar challenges regarding, e.g.,
service identification, composition and provisioning. However, in contrast to
MSA, SOA may rely on an extensive body of knowledge to tackle these challenges.
Thus, due to both architectural styles being service-based, the question arises
to what degree MSA might draw on existing findings of SOA research and
practice. In this paper we address this question in the field of Model-driven
Development (MDD) for design and operation of service-based architectures.
Therefore, we present an analysis of existing MDD approaches to SOA, which
comprises the identification and semantic clustering of modeling concepts for
SOA design and operation. For each concept cluster, the analysis assesses its
applicability to MDD of MSA (MSA-MDD) and assigns it to a specific modeling
viewpoint. The goal of the presented analysis is to provide a conceptual
foundation for an MSA-MDD metamodel.
