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Cloud Native Part 1: What Is Cloud Native?
Suppose you tried to find a formal definition of “cloud native.” In that case, you end up in a rabbit hole that leads you to more questions or realizes that everyone uses a different meaning depending on the argumentation and context. So you came to the result, that everything is “cloud native” somehow.
I researched during the last months and read many articles about the phrase and how it is used in multiple contexts, including SaaS applications and cloud providers describing their service as well as professional consulting firms. This is my resume.
There are three different major categories that I regularly see for the use of the phrase “cloud native”:
The first category is “cloud native,” as buzzwords trying “cloud native–wash” applications and services to sound more technical and advanced, often used by cloud services or web applications. In this case, cloud-native does not have real meaning/definition. It is just used as a filler word to describe that the application or service is in the cloud.
The second category, “cloud native,” is used when outlining the development and operations of applications in the cloud, combining best practices, like DevOps-approach, agile software development, and general architecture (e.g., microservices), not mentioning or not going into detail about a specific application stack.
And finally, the definition of CNCF (Cloud Native Computing Foundation) defines “Cloud Native” as
“Cloud native technologies empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private, and hybrid clouds. Containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure, and declarative APIs exemplify this approach.
These techniques enable loosely coupled systems that are resilient, manageable, and observable. Combined with robust automation, they allow engineers to make high-impact changes frequently and predictably with minimal toil.”
The CNCF definition works with a more significant view that if you do cloud native right, you’ll provide dynamic and scalable application behavior on many platforms, including public clouds, private clouds, and even legacy systems. As a consequence of this definition…
