Cloud-native is an approach to building and running applications on containerized and dynamically orchestrated platforms. It is not a single service but a collection of different, independently, and loosely coupled services. Cloud-native is the approach to creating and deploying applications rather than referring to where they are deployed. It helps build and run applications in public, private, and hybrid clouds. Scalability and high availability are the primary reasons for businesses to build cloud-native apps.
Cloud-native apps are built based on cloud computing frameworks, developed using different languages, and designed as loosely coupled services. They use software-based architectures to network between different sources as their services run on different servers and locations. Their continuous delivery mechanism makes them fast and reliable. Cloud-native apps are also easily scalable.
Miscroservices is an application deployment approach in which a single application contains many loosely coupled services. The microservices architecture allows the rapid delivery of large, complex applications that have their own technology stack, database, and data management systems.
Containerization replaces or augments virtualization. This technology encapsulates or packages software code and is a form of operating system virtualization. You can write your software code once and run it anywhere with containerization. It is lightweight, portable, and agile.
DevOps is a set of practices that improve efficiency throughout the software deployment life cycle. It integrates the processes between software development and IT teams and implements automation wherever possible. The DevOps process comprises of plan, code, build, test, release, deploy, operate, monitor, and feedback. It is aimed at rapid delivery, less downtime, more automation, and improved collaboration.
Continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) are combined DevOps practices where developers implement small changes in code and merge them into a central repository where the build execution and tests are automated. CI is a consistent and automated way to build deployment and testing applications; CD starts once CI ends. Most DevOps teams work with multiple environments for development, testing, and production, and CD ensures that the code changes are pushed to all the environments automatically. With each delivery, CI/CD tools help to ensure that all necessary parameters are packaged and stored in different environments.
The cloud-native architecture allows you build and run scalable applications in dynamic environments like private, public, and hybrid clouds. Here are a few more compelling reasons why you should adopt cloud-native technologies:
Cloud-native apps support the DevOps process, meaning your software delivery pipeline is automated. This streamlines build, test, deployment, and collaboration, speeding up your whole release process.
The software-defined infrastructure of cloud-native apps reduces or eliminates hardware dependencies, meaning you can easily scale horizontally and accommodate your growing resources.
Serverless platforms, like AWS Lambda and Microsoft Azure, make it easy to manage cloud-native apps as they manage the computing, storage, and network automatically. Simply upload your code as functions and the rest is taken care of.
Cloud-native apps use containers, which manage and secure applications independent of the infrastructure that supports them. Common containers like Kubernetes provide cloud-native tools, which help reduce infrastructure costs.