A cloud has been established. Individuals are confined to its usage, with a variety of industries dependent on it. Depending on the requirements of the organization, a private, public, or hybrid cloud solution can be implemented (encompassing cloud storage, virtual machines, and containers).
Since cloud computing has grown so widespread, it is easy to imagine it always having been.
However, cloud and cloud-native are not synonymous. Any service or programme that targets end users may be considered part of ‘the cloud’, although this is not always the case. We are particularly interested in the part of the cloud that enables organizations to use technology to better meet their customers’ needs.
This is the essence of cloud-native architecture.
To begin, let’s define “Cloud-Native.”
Cloud-native technology enables businesses to rapidly develop and deploy applications across a range of cloud deployment models, such as public, private and hybrid clouds. The technologies associated with this are containers, microservices, immutable infrastructure, service meshes and application programming interfaces.
Cloud applications and services must be adaptable, robust and visible to reach their full potential. This is essential for cloud-native success. If you were to attempt to match the scalability of cloud-native apps from an on-premise data centre, it would quickly deplete your organization’s IT budget.
So, cloud-native should be on your side if you need to roll out software and online services to satisfy rising demand.
What Characteristics Do “Cloud-Native” Applications Have?
Every cloud-native app has to have these four characteristics:
- They need to be built on top of microservices.
- All of their storage solutions need to use containers.
- There has to be more emphasis on APIs.
- A dynamic orchestration is required.
How Do Cloud-Native Technologies Work?
Your organisation will need to utilise a range of technologies in order to achieve cloud-native deployments. We should explore the options available to us.
Docker
Docker is widely recognized as a leading container deployment engine. Its low learning curve is a major factor in its widespread adoption. Docker is free and open-source, with both a community and enterprise edition available to suit larger installations.
Kubernetes
Kubernetes is widely regarded as the leading container orchestrator and is implemented by many major organisations. Kubernetes facilitates automated containerized applications and enables simple management of high-scale deployments.
Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment with GitLab
You can now automate software testing and deployment using GitLab CI/CD, the technology that enables this workflow.
Terraform
Terraform is a cloud-native infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tool that enables version control over cloud configurations. The complexity of cloud resources necessitates the use of version control to ensure accuracy and reliability.
Vault
It is essential that authentication information is sent from container manifests to services, applications and APIs. However, if this information is left in the manifests, your business is exposed to potential hacking. To mitigate this risk, a secrets manager should be employed, such as Vault.
Prometheus/Grafana
In order to effectively monitor your cloud-native deployments, we recommend using Prometheus and Grafana. This combination will enable you to keep track of the number of operations, their results, the duration of the operations, and the resources utilized. Furthermore, the alert manager in Prometheus will provide instant notification of any changes to the deployment.
Istio
Istio is a type of service mesh that offers a variety of capabilities, such as dynamic routing, load balancing, service directories, network controls and resilience primitives.
Node.js
Node.js is equipped to provide front-end templates for server-side rendering in cloud-native applications. It enables the creation of standalone real-time communication applications, such as chat systems, and is suitable for use in cloud-native settings, such as serverless, Kubernetes, and virtual machines.
Cloud-Native Has Several Advantages.
There are numerous upsides of using cloud-native software:
- Economical; you won’t have to spend money on expensive hardware (and the time and money to furnish it) just to keep up with demand.
- Cloud-native applications and services are scalable in comparison to conventional, monolithic systems.
- Cloud-native apps are portable, meaning they are not only vendor-agnostic but also capable of functioning on a wide variety of server configurations.
- It is possible to create highly available cloud-native applications and services using containers. By configuring the manager correctly, if any container stops functioning, a new container can be deployed quickly to replace it.
- Adopting cloud-native technology can be a challenge, however, it may prove to be more efficient over time due to the orchestration facilitated by Kubernetes that allows for a centralized management system.
- Visibility and observability are essential when designing cloud-native applications. This will enable your team to gain greater insight into the apps in production and identify areas for improvement.
Conclusion
Companies may benefit significantly from taking a cloud-native approach before their competitors gain a competitive advantage. Cloud-native technology enables development teams to create reliable and highly-scalable systems that can be automated for a more efficient software lifecycle. Though the learning process may be challenging, the potential rewards make it a worthwhile endeavor.
