There has been a significant change in the last few years in building applications and running them. Apps used to run on physical machines. However, Virtual Machines, with each VM having its OS, has replaced the physical devices.
Each Virtual Machine, irrespective of its usage, ran its OS. This made the volume of the VM shoot up. The OS’s size and the tight coupling of the OS with the application results in various complexities that arise in the VM lifecycle. Without separating all the inner layers in a VM correctly, swapping of the inner layers in a VM is not possible.
The newer versions of the OS and all other components are stacked on top of the older version. This results in instability, potential conflicts between various versions, and piling of uncleaned versions on the memory.
Cloud-Native Applications
Developers have actively broken down the work into smaller bits, created a single-piece workflow, and have taken responsibility for the pipeline that brings code from the testing stage to production.
Containers
Containers are used to store a part of the application that is unique to one container only. All containers share one underlying OS, libraries, and other frameworks of the middleware. Sharing of the OS results in lighter packages.
Containers are versatile. They can be used on different host machines, clusters, or clouds without changing the container’s content. Also, newer updates aren’t stacked on one container. Whenever you have to install a new update, a new container carrying the latest update is installed, and all traffic is diverted to it. Once it starts functioning properly, the old container is deleted.
This allows developers greater freedom in deploying the application without any intervention from other teams working on the layers underneath. Rolling back the updates is easy, as the old container is only killed when the new one functions perfectly.
Cloud-Native Services
Many Public cloud companies offer moving components of the application stack and middleware as a service. Developers can configure the entire stack with the help of a few clicks.
Cloud-Native Services consider the business metrics like scalability, resilience, and dynamic behavior of the application. It focusses on attaining operational excellence.
We would be looking at a few of the most critical projects of Cloud-Native Computing Foundation(CNCF)
- Kubernetes: It is a popular container orchestration platform that helps in managing and building modern applications.
- Prometheus: Prometheus helps in managing and monitoring the container-based infrastructure.
- Envoy: It is a distributed proxy server specifically designed for single services and apps and universal data plans.
- CoreDNS: It is a DNS server that’s written in Go. It provides enough flexibility to be used in a multitude of environments.
Kubernetes and Its Advantages
Kubernetes is an open-source platform that manages containerized workloads and also facilitates declarative configurations and automation. With its help, you would have no worries in versioning of the containers. It allows the communication between containers and the network, handles the storage considerations, and takes care of the services running inside the containers.
Developer Agility
The containers have allowed developers to exploit the full benefits of Agile development. The use of smaller and portable makes the application flexible and increases developer velocity.
Cost Management
Kubernetes’ dynamic platform allows the use of Horizontal Pod Autoscaler. This means the application cost goes hand in hand with the application demand. With quicker roll-outs of the latest versions, it also saves up on the developer costs.
Positive Impact on the Project Timelines
The Kubernetes platform has inbuilt components that can be added directly to your project. You get the option to customize these components to make them align with your requirements. This not only saves costs but also helps you deliver the project quickly.
