Cloud-Native is a term used to represent container-based environments. They are mainly used in developing applications built with services packed in containers, distributed as microservices and controlled on elastic infrastructure through continuous delivery workflows and agile DevOps processes.
Placing Of Cloud Native Platforms In Work Stations
Operation teams generally handle the infrastructure resource allocations manually on traditional applications, but Cloud-Native Applications are stationed on infrastructure abstracting the underlying storage, compute and networking primitives. The operators and developers who deal with this new generation application don’t directly interconnect with the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) exposed by the providers.
Rather, the head developer takes care of resource allocations following the policies set by DevOps teams. The scheduler and controller are an important part of the orchestration engine as they are in charge of resource allocations and the application’s life cycle.
Cloud-Native Applications can mean different things depending on who you are asking. For example, Netflix, a mail-order company ten years back, took advantage of cloud-native applications to become the world’s largest content delivery network. With the groundbreaking success of Netflix and the way they delivered amazing features to the users, more companies became interested in knowing the role of cloud-native applications in Netflix’s success.
So, What Makes Cloud-Native Applications So Important?
The main aim of cloud-native applications is to increase the speed of your business growth. It also provides a way for your teams to take advantage of the scalability and automation that cloud-native technologies offer.
Kubernetes is considered one of the most preferred platforms for running workloads outlined as cloud-based applications. This is because it has become an ideal operating system for the cloud, similar to how Linux has become the operating system for underlying machines.
What Is The Need For Cloud-Native Applications?
Cloud-Native applications are explicitly designed for cloud-based computer architecture. Microservices are the most important part of Cloud Native Architecture because of which all the cloud-native applications are based on microservice infrastructures. This is exactly what makes cloud-native applications so important for business when it comes to scaling and reliability. There are many other reasons why cloud-native applications are becoming the need of the hour. Let’s take a look at why these applications are becoming so popular and have become the need of every organization.
1. They Are Microservices-Based
Microservices is the most integral part of the cloud-native architecture. Microservices divide an application into different services. Each of these services has its own data and caters to specific business goals. These microservices can solve only those problems that are scaled horizontally. It has end-to-end attributes for developing, operating and testing components.
2. Cloud Native Applications Are Container-Based
Cloud-native applications depend on containers. When this software is used, microservices don’t overlap or interact with one another and run independently. As a result, cloud-native apps are easily portable across different environments and infrastructures because of container-based technology.
3. Makes Use Of Devops Process
DevOps is an important component in cloud-native applications. The development approach of cloud-native applications is based on DevOps and agile principles. In addition, collaboration and communication are encouraged in DevOps which allows easy and rapid management and change of processes.
Advantages Of Shifting To Cloud-Native Applications
There are many benefits that come with cloud-native applications. Any organization or company that decides to go cloud-native can reap the following benefits:
1. Greater Output And Flexibility
With DevOps and GitOps best practices, developers can use fully automated CICD (Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery) pipelines to test and push newly generated codes at a very fast pace. It puts the companies in a position where they can develop new ideas within a few minutes or hours instead of days and weeks. This results in more innovations and greater competitiveness.
2. Improved Reliability And Scalability
On-demand cloud bursting or elastic scaling offers almost limitless scaling of storage, compute and other resources. Companies or organizations can use built-in scalability to meet demands without any extra infrastructure provisioning or planning.
DevOps and GitOps best practices help developers innovate by clearing the way and providing them with a method to revert changes with minimum risk. Cloud-native networks allow rolling back from system crashes and other disasters caused by cluster meltdowns quickly.
3. Attracts And Retains The Top Talent
Cloud-native applications attract the best developers in the market as it allows them to work swiftly and spend little time on infrastructure. As a result, quality and experienced developers can come up with better products, which means more innovation in your company’s kitty. In addition, open-source contributions can also help establish your name as a technology leader.
4. Reduced Costs
Cloud-native applications are based on the pay-per-use model. It means that you need to pay only for the services you have used in the application. The lower rates of cloud-native applications can be attributed to the high productivity of the developers because of clouds.
5. Manageable And Resilient
The features of cloud-native applications are extremely resilient and easily manageable. If a microservice fails to deliver, there will be no impact on the adjacent services as cloud-native applications are container-based. This means that even if one service of the app is down, users can use the other services without any difficulties.
6. Observable
All the information on cloud-native applications can be accessed immediately because they are observable. There are multiple components that run at the same time, and with observability, it becomes easier to detect errors. The observability feature can detect even the smallest of errors and ensure that the system is configured in the right way.
7. Easy To Control
All cloud-native applications are easy to use, which is one of the main reasons for their popularity. Cloud-native applications can install and update using automation. Automation makes sure that no other microservices are affected while one of them is updating. The developers can track all the updates.
8. Monitoring
The cloud-native architecture provides a tool called monitoring that helps monitor the system’s health. It detects user behaviours, system usage and provides insights value. It also shows you the business outcome so that you can make strategic changes if required.
Are Containers Necessary In Cloud-Native Architecture
Yes, containers play a major role in the process of platform building. They are extremely beneficial for cloud-native applications as the containers can schedule and launch automatically, whenever you want. This feature is a priority for a lot of businesses because of which there has been a massive shift to cloud-native applications in the recent past. However, there are some ways in which the container doesn’t complete its work, and the developers need to focus more on flexible and resilient ways to get the job done.
Conclusion
The changes brought about by cloud-native technology on all kinds of businesses are quite eminent and noticeable. The whole perception of developing any kind of application is changed by cloud-native technology. With multiple benefits of this technology, more and more businesses are moving towards cloud-native applications.
The cloud-native technology regularly releases new features to help users build and manage apps quickly. Also, this technology is cost-effective, which makes it one of the favourites among developers.
