They say, “forget about infrastructure,” but is that even possible? It sounds like a dream, especially for a small company working on creating a new application that can conquer the market. However, the ideal is within reach, achievable with Cloud Native.
The current monolithic model of software development and implementation no longer works. Business is changing its approach and looking for new solutions that will allow for the optimization of old processes, saving not only money but also time. It turns out that the best ideas come from the bottom, from agile startups using the cloud.
Cloud Native – what is it and why do you need it?
Cloud Native is a strategy for creating and implementing software whose natural environment is a private, public or hybrid computing cloud. However, it is not enough to transfer existing applications as-is to the infrastructure of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud Platform.
We are changing from the standard monolithic form to the so-called architecture. microservices, gaining greater environment flexibility and easier scaling.
To use the full potential of cloud services, the software development paradigm must change. The Cloud Native strategy assumes that the application is divided into smaller blocks that are easier to manage. Such elements are usually a single module or program function, enclosed in an isolated container – the so-called container. Its advantage is a much higher startup speed.
You can read more about container technology in our article: Containerization – what are containers and why are they so popular?
Advantages of operating in the Cloud Native model
An application built using a Cloud Native strategy can be updated much more frequently without disrupting user access. A small team of developers works on each block (container). Using the automation found on every cloud platform and the ease of configuration, the implementation of a new version into the production environment is very efficient. Cloud native technologies also make it easier to log changes to your code.
The distributed cloud infrastructure is able to respond quickly to requests from any corner of the globe. Therefore, you will not leave users from the other side of the world unattended.
A consistent interface of the cloud platform helps in managing the implementation. It also includes tools for advanced analytics and monitoring current interest in the product.
Software designed for the cloud environment also means significant savings for company finances. In most cases, we only pay for the resources used by the cloud computing solutions provider (pay-as-you-go model). We also do not bear any costs related to infrastructure maintenance. At the same time, we gain flexibility and high scalability (both up and down, based on the real demand for our product).
Cloud native applications
Cloud-native apps are designed specifically to leverage the cloud computing delivery model. Unlike traditional applications, which are built for a fixed infrastructure, cloud-native apps are built to thrive in dynamic, scalable and resilient cloud environments. This means they can efficiently utilize the flexibility of cloud resources.
Microservices
At the heart of cloud-native architecture is the microservices approach. Instead of building a monolythic application, cloud-native apps are composed of small, independent services that communicate via APIs. This modularity allows teams to develop, deploy, and scale services independently, leading to faster development cycles and more resilient applications.
Containers
Containers, with Docker being a popular example, provide a lightweight, consistent environment for apps to run in. They encapsulate an app and its dependencies, ensuring it runs consistently across different environments. Container orchestration tools like Kubernetes manage these containers, providing scalability, availability and automated deployment.
DevOps and continuous integration
Cloud-native applications benefit greatly from Dev OPs practices, which emphasize collaboration between development and operations teams, Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CD/CI) pipelines automate testing and deployment, ensuring that new features and bug fixes can be delivered rapidly.
Infrastructure as a Code
Another feature of a cloud-native architecture is managing infrastructure through code, known as Infrastructure as Code (IaC). It allows for version-controlled, repeatable deployments. Tools like Terraform enable developers to define and manage infrastructure using configuration files, ensuring consistency across environments and reducing the risk od manual errors.
Serverless computing
Serverless architectures are yet another must-have element of cloud native technologies. It’s where cloud providers manage the underlying infgrastructure, allow developers to focus solely on code. Functions-as-a-Service (FaaS) offerings enable event-driven, scalable applications without the need to provision or manage servers.
