Service Registry and Service Discovery are essential components in microservices architecture, enabling dynamic communication between services.

Service Discovery refers to the process of automatically detecting instances of specific services within a network. Instead of hardcoding service locations, applications can query a service registry to find available services. This flexibility is crucial in environments where services may frequently change, such as in cloud-based or containerized applications. There are two primary patterns for service discovery: client-side and server-side. In client-side discovery, the client directly queries the service registry, while in server-side discovery, a load balancer or router queries the registry on behalf of the client ¹².

The Service Registry acts as a central repository for service metadata, including endpoint URLs and configuration details. When a service starts, it registers itself with the registry, allowing other services to discover it dynamically. This pattern not only facilitates service discovery but also supports load balancing and fault tolerance by managing service availability ⁴⁵.

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