Cloud-native applications are programs meant for cloud computing architectures. They’re hosted and operated in the cloud and are created to maximize the intrinsic features of the cloud computing delivery model.
A cloud-native application utilizes a microservice architecture to efficiently distribute resources for all its services. Discussed below are four essential things you should know about cloud-native applications.
1. Features of cloud-native application
Cloud-native applications consist of unique characteristics that make them ideal for business operations. Understanding cloud-native and how these features work can help your business leverage applications’ capability to deal with disruptive challenges. The following are cloud-native application features you should know:
- Microservices: Cloud-native applications constitute microservices that seamlessly integrate into the cloud environment. Thanks to the loosely coupled services, developers can consider every service independently. You can deploy, upgrade, and scale each microservice independently.
- Containers: They’re software that rationally isolates the app to ensure it runs independently of any physical resource. These containers ascertain that microservices don’t interfere with each other. They ensure apps don’t consume all the hosts’ shared resources.
- APIs: They act as a link between containers and microservices and provide security and simplified maintenance. They promote microservice communication, gluing loosely coupled services.
- Container orchestration tools: They control container lifecycles.
- Immutable infrastructure: This implies that cloud-native app servers don’t change after deployment. When an application needs additional computing resources, you can discard the old server and shift the application to a high-performance server.
2. Cloud-based applications vs. cloud-native apps
While cloud-based and cloud-native applications run on public/ private/ multi-cloud infrastructures, they vary in design. Cloud-based applications are meant to utilize cloud platforms and the cloud. While these apps can use the powerful cloud environment, they don’t take complete advantage of its inherent features.
Cloud-native applications are created especially for the cloud. These apps’ development process is optimized for the cloud’s inherent capabilities and is adaptable to the dynamic cloud infrastructure.
3. Importance of cloud-native applications
Adopting cloud-native applications comes with multiple rewards, including:
- Adaptability: The cloud-native application’s flexibility and scalability lets you introduce real-time enhancements to your app to better its performance. Additionally, they keep up with your customers’ changing needs because you can make the necessary changes on the go.
- Better security: Cloud-native apps are designed to be secure, meaning security measures are implemented during development. Since the applications are developed from independently secured microservices, your overall data safety is enhanced.
- Cost efficiency: Cloud-native solutions are meant to run on the cloud, which lowers maintenance, resource development and use, and backup-related costs.
- Easy management: Since cloud native applications utilize automation to deploy application updates and features, developers can track each component and microservice as it’s being updated. The fact the apps are divided into minor services implies that a single engineering team can concentrate on a specific microservice without worrying about how it’ll interact with others.
4. Examples of cloud-native applications
Here are some cloud-native applications that leverage the power of cloud technology:
- Airbnb: It’s developed as a cloud-native app and utilizes cloud services to manage its mobile and website infrastructure. Using the cloud-native technique, Airbnb can manage user reservations and payments while elastically scaling its platform
- Netflix: It heavily depends on cloud technologies, like container orchestration with Kubernetes, to scale its infrastructure and offer smooth streaming experiences to its users
Endnote
Cloud-native applications enable businesses to maximize the cloud’s inherent properties. Consider learning more about the essential things you should know about cloud-native apps before adopting them into your business.
