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This is the second of a two-part series.

At its core, cloud native is about leveraging the benefits of the cloud computing model to its fullest. This means building and running applications that take advantage of cloud-based infrastructures. The foundational principles that consistently rise to the forefront are:

In Part 1 we highlighted the learning curve and situations where directly using Kubernetes might not be the best fit. This part zeros in on constructing scalable cloud native applications using managed services.

Reaching the cloud might feel like constructing a ladder piece by piece using tools like Kubernetes. But what if we could simply press a button and ride smoothly upward? Thats where managed services come into play, acting as our elevator to the cloud. While it might not be obvious without deep diving into specific offerings, managed services often use Kubernetes behind the scenes to build scalable platforms for your applications.

Theres a clear connection between control and complexity when it comes to infrastructure (and software in general). We can begin to tear down the complexity by delegating some of the control to managed services from cloud providers like AWS, Azure or Google Cloud.

Managed services empower developers to concentrate on applications, relegating the concerns of infrastructure, scaling and server management to the capable hands of the cloud provider. The essence of this approach is crystallized in its core advantages: eliminating server management and letting the cloud provider handle dynamic scaling.

Think of managed services as an extension of your IT department, bearing the responsibility of ensuring infrastructure health, stability and scalability.

When designing a cloud native application, the primary focus should be on architectural principles, patterns and practices that enable flexibility, resilience and scalability. Instead of immediately selecting a specific cloud provider, its much more valuable for teams to start development without the blocker of this decision-making.

Luckily, the competitive nature of the cloud has driven cloud providers toward feature parity. Basically, they have established foundational building blocks which have taken inspiration greatly from each other and ultimately offer the same or extremely similar functionality and value to end users.

This paves the way for abstraction layers and frameworks like Nitric, which can be used to take advantage of these similarities to deliver cloud development patterns for application developers with greater flexibility. The true value here is the ability to make decisions about technologies like cloud providers on the timeline of the engineering team, not upfront as a blocker to starting development.

The resource choices for apps set the trajectory for their growth; they shape the foundation upon which an application is built, influencing its scalability, security, flexibility and overall efficiency. Lets categorize and examine some of the essential components that contribute to crafting a robust and secure application.

Traditional cloud providers have offered services for CI/CD but often fall short of delivering a truly seamless experience. Services like AWS CodePipeline or Azure DevOps require intricate setup and maintenance.

Why is this a problem?

You might notice a few similarities here with some of the challenges of adopting K8s, albeit at a smaller scale. However, there are options that simplify the deployment process significantly, such as using an automated deployment engine.

This is the approach Nitric takes to streamline the deployment process:

Basically, the deployment engine intelligently deduces and sets up the required infrastructure for the application, ensuring roles and policies are configured for maximum security with minimal privileges.

This streamlined process relieves application and operations teams from activities like:

Using managed services streamlines the complexities associated with infrastructure, allowing organizations to zero in on their primary goals: application development and business expansion. Managed services, serving as an integrated arm of the IT department, facilitate a smoother and more confident transition to the cloud than working directly with K8s. Theyre a great choice for cloud native development to reinforce digital growth and stability.

With tools like Nitric streamlining the deployment processes and offering flexibility across different cloud providers, the move toward a cloud native environment without Kubernetes seems not only feasible but also compelling. If youre on a journey to build a cloud native application or a platform for multiple applications, wed love to hear from you.

Read Part 1 of this series: Kubernetes Isnt Always the Right Choice.

Read more from the original source:
Achieve Cloud Native without Kubernetes - The New Stack