When to adopt cloud native infrastructure

Cloud native infrastructure is not for everybody. Any architecture design is a series of trade-offs. Only people familiar with their own requirements can decide which trade-offs are beneficial or detrimental to their needs.

Do not adopt a tool or design without understanding its impact and limitations. We believe cloud native infrastructure has many benefits, but realize it should not be blindly adopted. We would hate to lead someone down the wrong path for their needs.

How can you know if you should pursue architecting with cloud native infrastructure? Here are some questions you can ask to figure out if cloud native infrastructure is best for you:

• Do you have cloud native applications? (See “Applications” for more details.)

• Is your engineering team willing and able to write production-quality code that embodies their job functions as software?

• Do you have API-driven infrastructure (also known as Infrastructure as a Service, or IaaS) on-premises or in a public cloud?

• Does your business need faster development cycles or nonlinear people/systems scaling ratios?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you will likely benefit from cloud native infrastructure. If you answered no to any of these questions, it doesn’t mean you cannot benefit from some cloud native practices, but you may need to do more work before you are ready to fully benefit from this type of infrastructure.

It is just as bad to try to adopt cloud native ...