An Introduction to Cloud Native Apps

Cloud native this, cloud native that …... We all hear it over and over again. Ask a hundred IT professionals what "cloud-native" is and they all will give you different definitions. That’s because every organization has a different goal for cloud technology. But what exactly is cloud native?  

Simply put, a cloud-native app is a set of small and independent services that are loosely coupled and deployed in a cloud environment. This app development approach helps businesses grow by enabling them to quickly respond to the user experience drivers that require constant upgrades and new services. Moreover, each component of a cloud native app can be deployed or maintained as a self-contained microservice. That means you can focus only on the component of app that needs to be changed or updated rather than modifying the entire app. Furthermore, security features can be built into your app from the beginning without worrying after the development work is complete. The enterprises relying on this approach have automated their IT operations and thus minimizing human errors. 

Cloud-native Apps Architecture 

Cloud native architecture involves designing applications specifically to reside in the cloud, rather than traditional on-premises infrastructure. Successful cloud native architecture is cost-effective, easy to maintain, and supported by the next generation cloud. It is formed of four main elements: microservice architecture, container-based infrastructure, API-based communication and DevOps process. 

1. Microservice architecture 

According to research by IDC, 80% of app development will occur using microservices on cloud platforms by 2021. Microservices are at the heart of cloud-native application architectures and have become an important tool for companies opting the cloud technology. Microservice not only supports DevOps but also provides flexibility, and improves scalability, while reducing costs. Each microservice operates independently and communicates with other services using API or other lightweight protocols. You can create different services from different developers in different languages. It is also possible to provide each service on a different server.  

2. Container-based infrastructure 

This infrastructure enables you to package software and all its dependencies in an isolated unit, called container, which can run consistently in any cloud environment. Containers are truly portable and can be easily moved to different cloud services (e.g., from Amazon EKS to Azure AKS or Google GKE). They are quite similar to virtual machines, but they are more lightweight, require less server resources and are much faster to start up.  

3. API-based communication 

Microservice architecture relies on API to function because the API is the communication tool between its services. Technically, without an API, there would be a lot of disconnected microservices.  

4. DevOps Processes 

The essential elements of a cloud-native architecture, microservices & containers, rely on CI (continuous integration) and CD (continuous delivery). Both these are also the principles of DevOps Processes, making it inevitable for cloud-native technologies. With a continuous delivery pipeline in place, development can make changes right from source code to production, but even more importantly, they also have the ability to revert and back out of the change just as easily.  

In conclusion, the benefits of cloud native apps are clear. Cloud native app development actually provides a much better app than traditional development apps. You can extend cloud native apps because their functionality is divided into microservices and can be managed individually. Cloud native apps can run in a highly distributed way, stay independent, and allocate resources based on app needs as they are independent of the cloud infrastructure. They provide a consistent experience across private, public, and hybrid clouds and help businesses get the most out of cloud computing by running responsive and reliable apps that scale and reduce risk.   

If you want to develop cloud native apps that are user-friendly and match the latest technological trends, contact us. 

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