Understanding modern cloud-native applications

When we say cloud-native, we talk about applications built to run natively on the cloud. A cloud-native application is designed to run in the cloud taking full advantage of the capabilities and benefits of the cloud using cloud services as much as possible.

These applications are inherently scalable, flexible, and resilient (fault-tolerant). They rely on cloud services and automation to a large extent.

Some of the characteristics of a modern cloud-native application are as follows:

Microservices architecture: Modern cloud-native applications typically follow the microservices architecture. Microservices are applications that are broken down into multiple smaller, loosely coupled parts with independent business functions. Independent microservices can be written in different programming languages based on the need or specific functionality. These smaller parts can then independently scale, are flexible to run, and are resilient by design.

Containerization: Microservices applications typically use containers to run. Containers provide a consistent, portable, and lightweight environment for applications to run, ensuring that they have all the necessary dependencies and configurations bundled together. Containers can run the same on all environments and cloud platforms.

DevOps and automation: Cloud-native applications heavily use modern DevOps practices and tools and therefore rely on automation to a considerable extent. This streamlines development, testing, and operations for your application. Automation also brings about scalability, resilience, and consistency.

Dynamic orchestration: Cloud-native applications are built to scale and are inherently meant to be fault tolerant. These applications are typically ephemeral (transient); therefore, replicas of services can come and go as needed. Dynamic orchestration platforms such as Kubernetes and Docker Swarm are used to manage these services. These tools help run your application under changing demands and traffic patterns.

Use of cloud-native data services: Cloud-native applications typically use managed cloud data services such as storage, databases, caching, and messaging systems to allow for communication between multiple services.

Cloud-native systems emphasize DevOps, and modern DevOps has emerged to manage them. So, now, let’s look at the difference between traditional and modern DevOps.