How to Build Scalable and Efficient Cloud-Native Applications

Cloud-native architecture has revolutionized the way applications are designed, developed, and deployed in the cloud environment. By leveraging the power of cloud services and modern software practices, companies can build highly scalable, resilient, and efficient applications. The result? A huge competitive advantage.

Simply put, cloud-native applications are software programs created to run within a cloud computing environment. These applications can be developed and updated more quickly by following modern development and operational methods without affecting service delivery.

Nowadays, any business, regardless of its size, requires fast and adaptive digitalization processes that allow it to launch its applications and reap the benefits that the cloud offers. To achieve this goal, implementing these applications is essential.

What is Cloud Native?

"Cloud Native" is a term that refers to the creation and operation of software applications and services in a way that takes full advantage of the cloud's benefits and characteristics. Rather than simply moving traditional applications to the cloud, cloud-native applications are specifically designed to function efficiently and scale within cloud environments.

According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, cloud-native technologies empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in dynamic modern environments, such as today’s public, private, or hybrid clouds.

Cloud Native Characteristics

Cloud-native has several characteristics that make it especially suitable for cloud environments:

• Scalability: Cloud-native services and applications must be able to scale horizontally and vertically to meet increasing demand, quickly and dynamically. This means they should be capable of increasing or decreasing an application’s size to adapt to changes in traffic.

• Speed and efficiency: Cloud-native services and applications must be resource-efficient to minimize costs and develop, test, and deliver quality code much faster. Cloud-native increases teams' capacity without increasing business expenses.

• Availability: Cloud-native services and applications must be able to continue functioning even if there is a failure in some component.

Components of Cloud-Native Applications

Cloud-native application development is built upon the implementation of several key technologies.

• Microservices: Are the building blocks of cloud-native applications. These reusable programs are designed to integrate into any cloud environment. Microservices work together to run the application, but each can be independently scaled and continuously improved, making development faster and more flexible.

• Orchestrators: Once containers are set up, an orchestrator is needed to run them. Orchestrators manage how and where containers are executed, repair those that fail, and determine if more are needed. They are also known as schedulers and Kubernetes.

• Containers: Bundle an application’s dependencies, including source code, the operating system, and libraries, allowing the code to run in any environment. They also allow multiple cloud-native applications to run simultaneously on the same server, even when they rely on different operating systems. Microservices are deployed within containers.

• APIs (Application Programming Interfaces): Are collections of resources, especially URL endpoints, that facilitate communication and integration between one application and another.

• Service mesh: Is a software layer used to manage communication between various microservices. It routes traffic between all parts of an application that need to communicate with each other.

• Backing services: Include resources such as messaging agents, data stores, security services, and monitoring functions.

• Automation: Enables cloud environments to be quickly provisioned with features and updates, accelerating releases and improvements without disrupting the user experience.

The 4 Pillars of Cloud Native

Continuous Delivery

It is the ability to deploy any type of change and configuration while delivering software to customers quickly and safely. Continuous Delivery allows development teams to automate the deployment process to improve software delivery efficiency and speed.

This practice enables developers to automatically build, test, and prepare code changes, verifying updates to applications across multiple dimensions before releasing them to users.

DevOps

This methodology combines Dev (software development) with Ops (operations) and aims to improve and maximize communication between teams so they can produce and test software more efficiently.

This technique allows for adaptation to the Cloud Native environment to ensure that a company consistently delivers quality software while maximizing return on investment.

Microservices

We’ve already mentioned them; they are an architectural pattern used to scale the software development and delivery process, avoiding slow strategies and risks. Microservices allow applications to be developed in small, independent services.

Since services are independent, they can use different languages or platforms, be led by different teams, and be more aggressive in launching new features without affecting others.

Containers

Expanding on the concept, containers are a type of lightweight operating system that contains only what’s necessary to run an application. One of the biggest advantages of containers is their portability and predictable behavior across different environments.

At their core, containers are a way of packaging software. There are no errors associated with moving code from machine to machine, as new functionality is deployed with both the machine and the code within the same container. Everything the service needs, such as libraries, dependencies, and the operating system, is packaged in the container.

Challenges of Cloud-Native Applications

Managing the numerous updates for cloud-native applications is a complex task that can overwhelm development and IT teams. Additionally, the rapid scalability of containers required for cloud-native applications can pose risks to a company’s cloud security, which, if not continuously monitored and maintained, can lead to breaches.

Moreover, migrating legacy applications to microservices- and container-based applications can result in complex issues with dependencies or application functionality.

Cloud native is the future of computing. It allows companies to scale more efficiently, securely, and cost-effectively. Cloud-native architecture has become a key factor in deve

loping modern applications that leverage the cloud’s scalability, flexibility, and resilience.