From monolithic applications to Docker containers, cloud-computing technologies have evolved significantly in the last few years, disrupting how companies build and deploy their products over the web.
Cloud-native applications are much more than just putting our software products into containers and moving them into the cloud, cloud-native is about how we design and architecture our apps and not where we deploy them.
Cloud Native Design Principles
- Microservices Architecture
Our entire architecture design must focus on services; each one of them should work as a single function that’s built around business capabilities, relying on well-defined APIs to communicate with other services. - Continuous Integration/Deployment (CI/CD)
Working on single units(microservices) makes it easier and faster for development, allowing us to move through development, testing, and production with ease; therefore CI and CD comes naturally as part of our cloud-native workflow. - Serverless Infrastructure
Since our microservices are being developed and supported on the cloud, forget about provisioning and managing servers, and take full advantage of an elastic infrastructure that’s driven by events, dynamically growing and shrinking in response to each triggered event.
A cloud-native approach following the principles mentioned above will allow your organization regardless of it being a startup or a large enterprise, to build and run scalable applications with high levels of automation and fast delivery while having systems that are resilient and measurable.
Cloud-native challenges are more about culture than engineering; there’s have always been a stress on building static and non-distributed applications since on the past tools and infrastructure were not available however nowadays technologies like AWS and Google Cloud allows engineers to focus on business value by providing out of the box solutions for the cloud.
Cover Image Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash
