Cloud Application Architecture Patterns

Chapter 3. Cloud-Native Application

While the fundamental architecture for an application is the same for both traditional IT and the cloud, the architecture selected must then be refined further to optimize the application for the cloud. We’ve discussed how cloud computing enables you to run your applications on someone else’s computer, how it incorporates practices that are different from traditional IT, and how those practices impact the way that applications work. With that in mind, let’s look at how to architect an application to incorporate these cloud computing practices. To make an application run well on the cloud, architect and design it as a Cloud-Native Application.

Introduction to Cloud-Native Application

We need to distinguish between these two separate but closely related topics:

cloud computing

How the cloud makes its IT infrastructure available

cloud native

How to architect and design an application to work well with the cloud

These two topics are two different sides of the same coin: the compute infrastructure that the cloud provides and the application that works well within that infrastructure. These topics are counterparts because to understand why cloud native works the way it does, it is helpful to first understand how cloud computing works.

While cloud computing is well defined, the characteristics that make an application cloud-native have not been articulated as clearly. This chapter will introduce seven patterns that provide guidance on how to ...