Key Features of Cloud-Native Applications

Container-based environments are said to be cloud native. Cloud-native technologies are used to build applications constructed using services packed in containers, delivered as microservices, and maintained on elastic infrastructure via agile DevOps procedures and continuous delivery workflows.

Unlike traditional apps, which are launched on infrastructure that covers the underlying computer, storage, and networking primitives, cloud-native applications are installed on infrastructure that covers the underlying compute, storage, and networking primitives. The application programming interfaces (APIs) supplied by infrastructure providers are not directly interacted with by developers and operators working with this new breed of apps. Instead, the orchestrator manages resource allocation automatically in accordance with DevOps rules. The controller and scheduler, which are crucial parts of the orchestration engine, manage resource allocation and application life cycles.

Cloud-native application platforms, such as Kubernetes, present a flat network that is superimposed on current cloud provider networking topologies and primitives. Similarly, the native storage layer is frequently abstracted in order to offer logical volumes linked with containers. Storage quotas and network policies can be assigned by operators and accessible by programmers and resource administrators. The infrastructure abstraction not only meets the need for portability between cloud environments but also allows developers to construct and deploy apps using emerging patterns. Orchestration managers become the deployment goal, regardless of the underlying infrastructure, which might be physical or virtual servers, private or public clouds.

Kubernetes is an excellent platform for executing modern workloads built as cloud-native apps. It's become the de facto cloud operating system, just like Linux is the underlying machine's operating system. DevOps teams will bundle and deploy cloud-native apps in Kubernetes as long as developers follow best practices for designing and creating software as a group of microservices. The following are the ten important characteristics of cloud-native apps that developers should consider during cloud-native application architecture.

Important Features of Cloud-Native Applications

Cloud-native apps are a collection of independent and autonomous services packed as lightweight containers. Containers, unlike virtual machines, can swiftly expand out and scale in. Infrastructure usage is optimized when the unit of scaling switches to containers.

Designed using best-in-class languages and frameworks: Cloud-native application platforms are constructed using the language and framework most suited to the functionality. Polyglot cloud-native apps employ a range of languages, runtimes, and frameworks. For example, developers may create a real-time streaming service based on WebSockets in Node.js while providing the API in Python and Flask. The fine-grained approach to designing microservices allows them to select the optimal language and framework for a given project.

Services related to the same app discover each other using the application runtime, which is designed as a loosely linked microservice. They exist in the absence of other services. When elastic infrastructure and application designs are properly integrated, they can be scaled out efficiently and with great performance.

Developers can treat loosely connected services independently of one another. Because of this decoupling, a developer may concentrate on the fundamental functionality of each service to provide fine-grained functionality. Because each service is maintained independently and with clear ownership, this strategy results in the effective lifecycle management of the whole application.