We have all been hearing a lot about cloud native applications. But, what exactly does it mean and how is it designed? Basically, cloud native architecture refers to adapting the new possibilities that cloud offers as against conventional on-premises architecture.
Cloud native apps do not need a lot of functional changes. However, they do require different non-functional changes and have greatly different architectural constraints.
In today’s blog, we will list down the main principles of this architecture for cloud native apps. These will help you reap benefits of the cloud server without falling in the loopholes of the old systems.
Principles for cloud-native architecture
So, basically the principles of cloud-native architecture focus on optimizing the system architecture. This will ensure unique capabilities, scalability and distributed processing for your cloud apps. This is something that traditional architecture may not achieve, at least that easily.
Let us look at the principles below.
Principle 1: Automating the infrastructure
While automating the softwares has always been a top choice, cloud has made it much easier now. With cloud, you can easily automate the infrastructure, as well as the associated components. Automating your infrastructure will surely help in enhancing the performance and resilience of your software systems. It will lead to faster deployment, quicker repairs, resulting in better outcomes for your products. Some of the common areas that you can aim to automate include infrastructure, CI,CD, monitoring and recovery etc.
Principle 2: Design more components to be stateless
To make things easier and hassle-free, your system architecture should be intentional. This is with regards to when and how you store state. It is wise to design more stateless components. Why? There are many benefits to designing stateless components. They are much easier to scale. For instance, to scale up, all you need to do is add more copies. Stateless components are easier to repair. You can simply terminate any failed component instance, and get a replacement, without any hassles. Also, load balancing becomes much easier in stateless components. This is because any instance is capable of handling any request.
Principle 3: Adopt managed services
With most of the cloud offerings, you do get a rich array of managed services. They provide numerous functionalities that completely off load backend management from your shoulders. Managed services greatly help in cutting down delivery times and operational expenses. The major types of managed services that you can consider include managed open source services, managed services with high operational savings and everything else in the third category. The first category is an easy choice since it comes with multiple benefits and little risk. Here, we have Cloud SQL or Cloud Bigtable.
Principle 4: Embrace defense-in-depth approach
Cloud native apps originate on the internet and always have the risk of external attacks. While traditional architecture care a lot for perimeter security, even it has unending risks and threats. Cloud native apps adopt a defense-in-depth approach by application of authentication between every component. It also minimizes the trust between components. You must take care to move beyond authentication and include other things. These include rate limiting and injection of script.
Principle 5 : Keep evolving, keep architecting
When it comes to cloud native apps, one of the core characteristics is that they are always evolving, including their architecture. You should aim to continuously refine, improve and enhance the architecture of your system. This updation has to be in sync with organizational changes, IT system upgradation and so on. Though, it requires repeated investments, it will ensure that your systems are updated for better reliability, scalability and performance.
Conclusion
What we would like to mention here is that the above principles are essential, but they are not any magical solutions for cloud native architecture. However, following these principles will surely help to get you the most out of the cloud. If you are looking for building any cloud native applications or software for your business, please get in touch with us for the same! Our experts are well-versed with the different principles of optimized cloud architecture and will help build you scalable and responsive products within the promised timeline.
