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What is Cloud Native?
Depending on who you ask, there are many different ways to define cloud native. The phrase "cloud native" was first used ten years ago by businesses like Netflix, which used cloud technology to develop from a mail-order business to one of the biggest consumer-on-demand video delivery networks in the world.
In order to rethink, change, and expand software development, Netflix was the first to embrace cloud native technology.
Businesses are interested in learning how cloud native technology has accelerated the Delivery of new products to customers and helped Netflix achieve such great success.
Cloud Native Development And Architecture: What Does It Look Like?
Monolithic Architecture Vs. Microservices Architectures
After a catastrophic deployment, ex-Nintendo Cloud Architect Adrian Cockcroft changed the whole architecture of Netflix from monolithic to microservices.
It is challenging to employ monolithic architectures since new features need to be created and tested. Implementing those adjustments requires a lot of work.
- Multiple teams must coordinate code changes.
- It was difficult to deploy multiple features simultaneously without extensive integration and functional testing.
- The languages used by development teams were limited to one or two languages.
Netflix developers were able to provide new features to customers much quicker, thanks to the shift to microservices.
Microservices are a sort of service-oriented architecture that is context-bound and loosely coupled. Thus, not all services must be updated simultaneously.
Bounded contexts are absent if you demand too much information about other services, which is related to the previous argument. Check out the following original blog article by Martin Fowler and James Lewis on the definition of "microservices": An explanation of this recently coined the architectural term.
Microservices, Docker & Kubernetes
Docker containers make it simple to implement microservices. Your microservices can each be deployed in a different language by running in distinct containers.
Conflicts between languages, libraries, or frameworks are completely eliminated by containerization. It is simple to build microservice architectures using containers and then transfer them to different environments as needed because containers are portable and may be utilized in isolation.
Container Orchestration
If you have a large number of microservices operating, you will need to be able to manage and coordinate a large number of Docker containers.
A cluster manager (orchestrator), such as Kubernetes or Docker Swarm, is required.
In the past, selecting the ideal orchestrator was challenging. Yet Google's Kubernetes has just emerged victorious in the orchestration warfare.
All of the main cloud providers provide easy-to-install options for Kubernetes.
This topic focuses on the reality that in order to stay competitive, the majority of businesses must build their apps around microservices.
Moreover, a Kubernetes cluster must be used to execute them. However, some businesses use different orchestrators in place of Docker containers.
Automated Deployments
Automate deployments next. Kubernetes allows for the orchestration of containerized applications. DevOps is distinct from other methods of software development, such as the waterfall approach, which calls for sequential development.
Continuous does not always imply that programmers deploy changes after every line of code. Continuous refers to the frequency distribution of software updates and new features using a pipeline for continuous automated integration (CICD) and continuous deployment.
Monitoring
More than ever, monitoring systems must handle microservices and containers. Cloud Optimization Native apps generate a lot more data that has to be tracked in addition to producing more objects.
Data collection is challenging in a setting with so many moving pieces. The ideal answer to these changing cloud settings is Prometheus, which is the most recent technology.
It was created primarily for monitoring large-scale containers of microservices and applications.
Cultural Changes
The adoption of DevOps best practices and cloud native technology inside your organization must be successful. To guarantee that software is updated consistently and serves the company's business goals, it is crucial that internal teams adopt cross-functional methods.
Making the conversion to cloud native may be the most difficult element of your journey. The hardest part of the process is ensuring that the changes stay and implementing them across your whole organization.
The five phases that lead to production readiness are detailed in our whitepaper, Production Ready Kubernetes Cluster Guide.
This covers the necessary cultural adjustments for your team as well as the most crucial factors to take into account while adopting Kubernetes for production.
These Are The Top Benefits That Cloud Native Offers Enterprises
Productivity and Agility Increased
Developers can quickly test new code and release it to production by utilizing fully automated continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines thanks to GitOps, and DevOps best practices (CICD).
Instead of taking weeks or months, businesses can swiftly put new ideas into production. It just takes a few minutes, hours, or even days. As a result, innovation and competitiveness increase.
Increased Scalability and Reliability
Computing, storage, and other resources may be scaled almost indefinitely via cloud bursting or on-demand elastic scaling.
Businesses don't need to design or deploy extra infrastructure to employ built-in scalability to match any demand profile.
Best practices for DevOps and GitOps give developers a low-risk mechanism to undo changes, encouraging creativity.
In the case of a cluster breakdown, alterations can be reversed more swiftly. More uptime makes a company more competitive, able to provide better service, and able to impose stricter service agreements.
Lower Costs
Pay-per-use business models and scale efficiencies are made possible by cloud native technologies. As a result, spending is shifted from CAPEX to OPEX.
The entrance hurdle is reduced since there is no upfront CAPEX cost, and IT can invest more money in infrastructure rather than development. The total TCO and hosting costs will also be cheaper.
Attract and keep Top Talent
Working with open-source software and other cloud native technologies is a developer's dream. They can now move more quickly and spend less on infrastructure, thanks to this.
Better developers will lead to better products and greater innovation for your business. Contributions to open source are a fantastic approach to positioning yourself as a leader in the field of technology.
Reduced Vendor Lock-In
Without being restricted to legacy products, cloud native lets you select from a wide range of tools. Vendor predatory pricing may be readily avoided by moving cloud native programs to alternative cloud-compatible technologies.
Moving to other public clouds that provide superior offerings or need multi-cloud infrastructure for compliance is simple.
Cloud Native Technologies in Practice
Invisible Infrastructure Means Portability And Speed
Even if the majority of businesses would want to transfer their apps to the cloud, others may prefer to maintain their data and programs on-premise.
Some businesses might want the flexibility to swap cloud providers in order to take advantage of improved pricing structures. Others might have to follow compliance rules and work with various providers. Applications that are portable and simple to use are what businesses seek.
This enables them to concentrate on creating new features and apps while ignoring infrastructure.
"Stop writing about infrastructure, please. Cohorts that don't code infrastructure code will soon exist." "Like how I doubt you construct computers."
We are motivated to support businesses in their digital transition. Infrastructure modifications need to be made simpler so developers may focus on creativity and creating new features.
Instead of writing infrastructure code, developers should focus on the features. When there is less friction in the infrastructure, businesses are more aggressive and competitive.
When we refer to applications being cloud-native, we are referring to scalability and portability as well as development speed.
Increased Velocity = More Agile Businesses
Apps built for the cloud are very accessible and constantly available. Your staff can update them quickly and without any disruption.
Your development teams may respond quickly to client requirements with cloud native apps rather than having to wait weeks. More agility and speed are offered by this new breed of contemporary structures, apps, and techniques.
Continuous Delivery Can Be Practiced By Cloud Native Development Teams
Cloud native development has helped companies increase their deployment times from 1 to 2 per week to over 150 per day.
Cloud native makes it easy to fix a site that goes down in less than five minutes rather than keeping customers offline.
The capacity to move rapidly is one of the main distinctions between those who are able to modify and update their apps frequently and others who find it difficult to make even minor adjustments to their websites.
Constant Delivery can be measured, which is why unicorn companies like Netflix and Airbnb, which are aware of this, are receiving so much attention.
Many businesses are aware of the term "cloud native" and the notion. Dissemination is the most challenging aspect of democratizing this information and making it accessible to others.
How can we provide access to this technology beyond the elite of Silicon Valley?
Read More: Understanding Cloud-native Applications 2023
CNCF’s Role
In 2015, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) was created. It serves as the vendor-independent host for Kubernetes, an open-source platform that organizes, scales, and automates application deployments.
Google originally developed Kubernetes to power its search engine. Nonetheless, more than 300 businesses, including Cisco, Microsoft, and Amazon, have now contributed to it.
Containers in a program may be organized into logical units using Kubernetes, making administration and discovery simple.
It scales with your application without requiring you to hire more operations personnel.
Moreover, simultaneous and automatic deployments may be carried out in a secure manner. This is a novel technique to do releases and provide product upgrades.
These concepts are all a part of the so-called cloud native revolution.
The primary goal of CNCF is to develop resilient ecosystems and a community that supports and maintains containers for Kubernetes-based cloud-native applications.
The CNCF offers training and supports cloud native initiatives. A Governing Board and Technical Oversight Board are also present. Programs for certification are also available.
A Common Cloud Platform
In order to execute digital solutions in various corporate contexts, developers will need to concentrate on the features that directly affect the bottom line and not worry about the infrastructure.
A standard cloud native platform and tools are being developed by CNCF, which businesses may utilize to modify their existing systems.
These are the things that will allow us to create a common platform.
- An actual framework that enables scaling. Your apps may now operate everywhere, whether that be on-premises, in the cloud, or both.
- A standard cloud computing platform with a pluggable set of tools to support the newest applications. It's a platform that offers pluggable tools to make running cloud-native apps simple.
- In order to take advantage of new potential in data analysis and machine learning, cloud native architectures are being embraced and created.
Cloud Native Components Off-The-Shelf
With the various incubating initiatives in the CNCF, you can swiftly put up infrastructure as a service and provide the foundation for innovation.
Before cloud native technology, you needed a team of consultants to add new business components to your monolithic platform. Even then, it took nine months to implement.
The community-supported CNCF parts can help you save a tonne of time. This enables you to focus on the current goal, such as introducing machine learning or other data-science techniques into your company to promote creativity.
How Does Cloud Native Relate to DevOps
Continuous Delivery and DevOps
A new set of software development processes and philosophies have emerged as a result of cloud native. Cultural change or DevOps are some names for this.
When teams receive a new set of tools, they will come up with innovative methods to use them. This is frequently true for younger generations of developers, who bring a new viewpoint and an alternative strategy to solve long-standing issues.
Modern cloud technologies.
Continuous Delivery Is Possible Only If You Have The Ability To Move Quickly
Platforms for Kubernetes-based continuous Delivery enable speed and decrease entry barriers. Your team may deploy updates daily instead of just quarterly or monthly, thanks to continuous Delivery.
Your team is able to roll back any necessary modifications thanks to continuous Delivery. Developers may make changes from source code to production with continuous Delivery. More importantly, though, is that they have the option to immediately reverse or undo the alteration.
Your team may roll out client requests more quickly or release testing to certain customers by continuously deploying updates.
By pressing a button, developers may also swiftly recover from errors.
This was a significant advancement over software development 15 years ago, when just one change necessitated extensive coordination.
It is simple to distribute updates often thanks to migration to cloud native technologies like Kubernetes and related projects.
The Basics Of Cloud-Native App Architecture
Cloud computing frameworks, which are loosely connected with cloud services, are used by cloud-native programs. Developers of cloud-native apps must assemble a network of computers using software-based architectures because not all services are hosted on the same server.
These services are run at various locations and are housed on various servers. This design enables horizontal scaling of applications.
Because they rely on the cloud infrastructure, these apps ought to be redundant. As a result, the program can endure equipment failures and automatically remap Internet Protocol addresses.
Cloud-Native Applications Have Many Features
As a component of the architecture of cloud-native programs, containers are used to connect and interact with microservices.
Tools for orchestration may be used to handle each of these parts.
These are just a few examples of the main features this software provide:
- It is built on microservices: An application is divided into separate services or modules using microservices. Each service has a distinct function and relates to its own data. Application program interfaces, or APIs, allow these modules to communicate with one another.
- Using containers: Software called containers separates an application intellectually so that it can operate independently of physical resources. Microservice interference is avoided through containers. Applications are restricted from accessing all of the host's shared resources by containers. Several instances of the same service are permitted.
- API-based: APIs allow streamlined security and maintenance while connecting microservices to containers. They serve as the link between loosely linked services and enable communication between microservices.
- Dynamically planned out: Software for managing complicated container life cycles is called container orchestration. Resource management, load balancing, and the scheduling of restarts following internal failures are handled by container orchestration tools. They also make it possible to install containers into cluster nodes and provision them.
Cloud-Native Apps Vs. Cloud-Based Apps
It is common to confuse the terms hybrid cloud-native with cloud-based applications. They can both be run on hybrid, public, or private cloud infrastructures.
However, their design differences are as follows:
Cloud-Based Applications
These programs are designed to make use of cloud resources and platforms. Although dynamic cloud architecture is used by cloud-based apps, many apps do not fully utilize the intrinsic possibilities of the cloud.
Cloud-Native Apps
These products are specifically designed for the cloud. Cloud-native app development optimizes for cloud characteristics and adapts to the cloud's dynamic environment.
Read More: Cloud-Based Vs Cloud-Native Application Development
Cloud-Native Apps Offer Many Benefits
Cloud-native apps are made to benefit from the efficiency and speed of the cloud. These are just a few of the many benefits you get from using them:
- Affordably priced: Resources for computing and storage may be expanded as needed. This lessens load balancing and overprovisioning of hardware. It is quick and simple to install cloud-native apps to virtual servers for testing. A host's capacity for executing microservices can be expanded by using containers. This helps you save money, resources, and time.
- Separately scaleable: Each microservice can grow on its own. Scaling up or down one microservice won't have an impact on the other. A cloud-native design enables more rapid app upgrades for certain parts of the app. These cloud-based programs employ containers, so if one microservice fails, it has no impact on the other services.
- Simple to control: Automation is used in cloud native applications to roll out updates and new features. All components and microservices may be tracked and updated by developers. Applications are divided into smaller services, so one technical team doesn't have to worry about how one microservice interacts with another microservice.
- Visibility: Engineers may separate services using a microservice design, which also makes it simpler to examine systems and comprehend how they interact.
Best Practices For Cloud-Native Application Development
The design of cloud-native applications is built on the DevOps idea of operational excellence. There are no specific guidelines for cloud-native architecture.
Depending on their business challenge and the software they utilize, businesses will approach development in different ways.
While creating cloud-native software, designers must take into account how the app will function, how performance will be tracked, and how teams may encourage continuous development across its entire lifespan.
The five elements of design are as follows:
- Automation: Automation allows consistent provisioning across multiple cloud providers of cloud application environments. Automation allows you to track and control changes in source code repositories using infrastructure as code (IaC).
- Monitor: Teams should keep an eye on the application's use and the development environment. Every facet of the environment and application, from supporting infrastructure to application, should be simple to monitor.
- Document: The creation of cloud-native apps has engaged many people. They cannot see what the other teams are doing, though. It is crucial to keep track of the app's modifications and the contributions made by each team.
- Make a few little adjustments: Any modifications to the architecture or application should be gradual and simple to undo. Teams will be able to learn from their errors as a result and prevent irreparable damage. Using IaC, developers may monitor changes to a source repository.
- Prepare for failure: You should plan for what will happen in a cloud environment. It is important to implement test frameworks that simulate failures in order to learn from them.
Tools For Cloud-Native App Development
Each step in the creation of a cloud-native app requires a different software tool. They design a stack for development.
The following software may be found in a cloud-native development stack:
Docker. This Docker open-source platform is Using a shared operating system, it maintains containers for virtualized applications (OS).
Separating resources enables several containers to share the same OS without interference.
- Kubernetes: This platform chooses where and how to execute Linux containers while managing and orchestrating them.
- Terraform: IaC is intended to be implemented via Terraform. Users can see where and when resources have been changed because of Terraform's use of version control and the definition of resources in code.
- CI/CD in GitLab: Users may automate software testing and deployment with the help of this continuous integration/continuous development (CI/CD) software. Unit tests, static analysis, and security analysis may all be done using GitLab.
- Node.js: You may develop real-time apps like chat, news feeds, and other microservices using JavaScript runtime. For instance, Node.js has the ability to build virtual servers and choose the routes that link microservices to external APIs.
Conclusion
During the past few years, cloud-native software applications have become more and more common. They are anticipated to lead software development in the future.
By 2024, there will be at least 6.5 million cloud-native developers, up from 4.7 million, according to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Several of the challenges that come with cloud computing are addressed by cloud-native apps. To increase operational efficiency, moving to the cloud presents a number of difficulties.
