But What Is Cloud Native Really All About?

The term "Cloud Native" first appeared around 10 years ago when Netflix discussed their web-scale application architecture at a 2013 AWS re:Invent talk. While the meaning of the term may have evolved over time, one thing remains the same: there is still no clear definition for it. Different people interpret it differently. In this article, we will provide our interpretation of the term "Cloud Native" and discuss its importance.

The Promises of Cloud Native

Cloud Native is a blueprint for building web-scale applications on the cloud that are more available and scalable. It promises increased agility to ship new features quickly without compromising availability, making it quicker to respond to changing customer demands.

Cloud Computing vs Cloud Native

Before we dive into how Cloud Native fulfills its promises, let's first understand its close cousin, Cloud Computing. In its most basic form, Cloud Computing involves running applications on computing resources managed by cloud providers, without having to purchase and manage hardware ourselves. While migrating an existing monolithic application to the cloud is a great start, it does not make it Cloud Native.

The Four Pillars of Cloud Native

For an application to be considered Cloud Native, there are at least four pillars to consider.

1. Application Architecture

Cloud-native applications are made up of multiple small, interdependent services called microservices. Traditionally, developers built monolithic applications with a single binary containing all the required functionalities. Breaking down a large application into smaller microservices allows for faster development, testing, deployment, and scaling. These microservices communicate with each other via well-defined APIs.

2. Containers and Container Orchestration

Cloud native applications are packaged in containers, lightweight components that contain everything needed to run a microservice in any environment. Container orchestration, such as Kubernetes, is essential for managing a large number of containers and ensuring all microservices run smoothly as a single unified application. It oversees where containers run, detects and repairs failures, and balances load between microservices.

3. Development Process

Cloud native applications are built using a microservices architecture, where different services are developed, deployed, and scaled independently of each other. This requires collaboration between development and operations teams and significant investment in automation for the development and deployment process. DevOps, which emphasizes collaboration, communication, and automation, plays a crucial role in delivering cloud-native applications quickly and reliably.

4. Adoption of Cloud Native Open Standards

As the Cloud Native ecosystem matures, critical components become standardized, and best practices become widely available. Cloud Native applications leverage these standardized components as building blocks and follow these best practices. Some well-known standards and projects include Kubernetes for orchestration, Jaeger and Zipkin for distributed tracing, and Istio and Linkerd for service mesh.

When to Adopt a Cloud Native Strategy

The decision to adopt a Cloud Native strategy should be based on a careful evaluation of the application's requirements and the organization's resources. Smaller and simpler applications may not require a Cloud Native approach and can function well with traditional monolithic architecture or a simpler deployment model. However, larger and more complex applications can benefit from Cloud Native, offering increased scalability, availability, and faster development cycles.

Conclusion

A Cloud Native approach can help organizations build and deploy applications that are more reliable, scalable, and resilient in a shorter amount of time. While the term "Cloud Native" may continue to evolve and have different interpretations, understanding its promises, pillars, and when to adopt a Cloud Native strategy is crucial for organizations looking to thrive in the cloud-native era.

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