Widely known as the modern way to develop software, cloud-native is one of the most successful divisions of cloud technologies. It comprises multiple tools and techniques like microservices, CI/CD, agile frameworks, DevOps, and more.

The need for building resilient, flexible, scalable, and robust applications has called for a cloud-first approach to application development. And given the dynamic, highly available nature of cloud-native, it is of no surprise that this technology is the most sought after lately.

Gartner estimates that over 95% of workloads will be deployed on cloud-native platforms by 2025.

But designing and deploying modern cloud-native apps is a whole new ball game. Organizations can experience several bottlenecks, from security concerns to vendor lock-ins or lack of skills and technology.

So, let’s look at the best practices every business needs to be aware of before building cloud-native apps.

7 Best Practices of Cloud-Native Application Development

1. Use of a Microservices-Based Architecture

The microservice architecture, aka microservices, refers to loosely coupled and distributed services that are used to develop applications. These are highly scalable and can adapt to rapidly changing business needs quickly.

Microservices extensively align with cloud-native approaches due to their independent components that communicate with each other via APIs. This makes it easier for development teams to distribute and delegate development activities.

2. Employ DevOps Methodologies

DevOps is a transformation in itself. It includes agile practices and methods that push the modern development processes to be more productive and scalable while reducing the total development time.

Here’s how organizations can implement DevOps into their cloud-native development:

• Use of containerization: In cloud-native, the application components should be containerized. These containers can run independently of the underlying system as they work as isolated components.
• Automation of the CI/CD pipeline: Continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline enables automation in the software development processes and is a commonly used practice in cloud-native. With this, developers can rapidly release high-quality code.
• Realigning people and processes: DevOps as a cultural shift while on the cloud journey, where the teams, processes, and technologies work in sync, allows seamless operations. And when people understand their responsibilities, there is no room for conflicts between development teams, resulting in faster delivery.

3. Opt for the Right Design Pattern

Based on the organization’s business goals and priorities, developers must choose an apt design pattern and incorporate the same. The most common ones are CQRS, Sidecar, Gatekeeper, and Event-driven design patterns.

Developers are not constrained to one design pattern; multiple can be used simultaneously as long as the business goal is invariably met in real-time.

4. Monitoring and Logging

Most cloud-native development platforms provide a solution for monitoring and logging. Developers need to integrate these into their systems to ensure availability.

The data collected while logging can be used to assess the health of the cloud-native apps. An alert mechanism is a popular tool to guide developers or the operations team to monitor the systems around the clock and keep them in constant check for any potential bottlenecks.

5. Prioritize Security from the Start

Security is a primary concern of every development activity. And especially when companies move their monolith applications to cloud-native, security needs to be ingrained right off the bat.

A strong policy for security, along with proper authorization, authentication, role-based access, and more, are the most deciding factors in building a secure cloud-native app. Without these, the cloud-native development journey can be prone to leakage of sensitive data, unauthorized accesses, etc., leading to grave losses in the long run.

6. Going Serverless

Serverless is a cloud-native development model where developers can build and deploy applications without the need to physically run or manage servers. The servers are handled outside the project by the cloud vendors themselves.

For businesses aiming for faster time to market, running applications on-demand, and scaling faster, the serverless architecture has been a go-to approach.

7. Avoid Vendor Lock-In

Having data or services locked to a single cloud vendor makes it difficult for organizations to build portable applications. Moreover, the costs and effort involved in switching vendors can be massive, resulting in them being stuck to a sole vendor.

To avoid this, organizations must ensure they don’t subject to complete dependency on a single vendor’s services. Also, the components within the cloud app should be built to be loosely coupled so that the risk of vendor lock-ins is significantly reduced.

The Bottom Line

Cloud-native has been transforming the way applications are built. Upgrading from a monolith to a cloud-based architecture and driving application modernization have been on top of every development company’s agenda. And why would it not – considering its incredible benefits of high scalability, speed-to-market, etc.

Wondering if the cloud-native approach for developing your applications is the right way forward? Get in touch with our cloud experts at Sagacity today for a consultation.