Architecting Cloud‑Native Applications for Hybrid Multicloud
Key Points
- Cloud‑native apps replace monolithic, “lumpy” legacy systems with microservices that run on hybrid and multicloud infrastructure, using a layered stack that includes a Kubernetes‑based control plane, application/data services, and modern runtimes.
- This architecture enables greater business agility and innovation by commoditizing lower‑level services (e.g., load balancing, service discovery, routing) so developers can focus on higher‑level functionality.
- To succeed, cloud‑native applications must be instrumented with standardized logging, event schemas, and distributed tracing, allowing a common catalog to be reused across multiple services and teams.
- Emerging open‑source projects such as Istio, Knative, and Tekton are already being embedded into the control‑plane layer to provide out‑of‑the‑box capabilities for service mesh, serverless workloads, and CI/CD pipelines.
Sections
- Understanding Cloud‑Native Application Layers - Andrea Crawford from IBM Cloud explains the shift from monolithic to microservice‑based cloud‑native apps, outlines a multi‑layered hybrid/multicloud architecture (infrastructure, orchestration, services, runtimes), and highlights benefits like innovation, business agility, and commoditization of the solution stack.
- Standardizing Cloud‑Native Control Plane - The speaker emphasizes the need to commodify core microservices infrastructure—load balancing, service discovery, routing—via tools like Istio, Knative, and Tekton, positioning them as emerging control‑plane components for enterprise‑scale cloud‑native applications.
Full Transcript
# Architecting Cloud‑Native Applications for Hybrid Multicloud **Source:** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9_ubiKqFU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9_ubiKqFU) **Duration:** 00:04:36 ## Summary - Cloud‑native apps replace monolithic, “lumpy” legacy systems with microservices that run on hybrid and multicloud infrastructure, using a layered stack that includes a Kubernetes‑based control plane, application/data services, and modern runtimes. - This architecture enables greater business agility and innovation by commoditizing lower‑level services (e.g., load balancing, service discovery, routing) so developers can focus on higher‑level functionality. - To succeed, cloud‑native applications must be instrumented with standardized logging, event schemas, and distributed tracing, allowing a common catalog to be reused across multiple services and teams. - Emerging open‑source projects such as Istio, Knative, and Tekton are already being embedded into the control‑plane layer to provide out‑of‑the‑box capabilities for service mesh, serverless workloads, and CI/CD pipelines. ## Sections - [00:00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9_ubiKqFU&t=0s) **Understanding Cloud‑Native Application Layers** - Andrea Crawford from IBM Cloud explains the shift from monolithic to microservice‑based cloud‑native apps, outlines a multi‑layered hybrid/multicloud architecture (infrastructure, orchestration, services, runtimes), and highlights benefits like innovation, business agility, and commoditization of the solution stack. - [00:03:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp9_ubiKqFU&t=191s) **Standardizing Cloud‑Native Control Plane** - The speaker emphasizes the need to commodify core microservices infrastructure—load balancing, service discovery, routing—via tools like Istio, Knative, and Tekton, positioning them as emerging control‑plane components for enterprise‑scale cloud‑native applications. ## Full Transcript
Hi, I'm Andrea Crawford and I'm with IBM Cloud.
So, today we're going to talk about cloud native applications.
In the heritage world we have our lumpy,
monolithic applications,
and in the new world we have our microservices
living on the cloud.
If we take a look at this diagram here,
we see we have cloud infrastructure.
This is your private, your public,
and your enterprise infrastructure.
Cloud-native applications apply
to hybrid and multicloud situations.
We also have our scheduling and orchestration layer.
This layer is all about control planes like our Kubernetes.
We also have our application and data services layer.
This layer is all about backing services
and being able to integrate our application code
with existing services that may be available on other clouds,
or even on-premises.
We have our application run times,
these are what were traditionally,
or conventionally, known as middleware.
And over here, well,
that's where we have our cloud native applications.
This is the sweet spot right up here.
So, our application code
is actually designed, built and delivered
very differently for cloud-native
than it would be for conventional,
monolithic, lumpy applications over here.
So, let's talk a little bit about
why cloud native applications can actually leverage benefits
like enabling innovation, business agility,
- and, most importantly from a technology perspective,
the commoditization of the solution stack over here.
So, as time has progressed
and technologies have matured and emerged,
a lot of the services
are actually being re-factored lower down in this stack.
This means that core services
are starting to have a lower center of gravity,
freeing up innovation at this level over here.
So, what are our use-cases for
when to build a cloud-native app?
Star everything.
Everything that lives in the cloud should have
a cloud-native app design and approach.
This means our application code
needs to be instrumented with things like
standardized logging, standardize events,
and being able to match those logging and events to
a standard catalog
that multiple microservices and cloud-native apps can use.
The last thing we want to do is have our development squads
have to figure out what their log and event messages should be.
Let's standardize that
because we want to be able to commoditize that as well.
We also need to have things like distributed tracing.
When we get over into the microservices world over here,
we have a lot of moving parts.
This means we're going to need to leverage services
core to the system like load balancing,
service discovery, and routing.
These are the kinds of things that are commoditized
in this layer here with things like Istio,
and with the emergence of newer projects like Knative.
If you read the tea leaves, I think we're going to find
these types of technologies
embedded into this control plane layer here.
But they're still more innovation to come.
There are other technologies like Tekton,
which actually address CI pipelines
specifically for cloud-native applications
that leverage Docker and Kubernetes.
And so, if we were to recognize the benefits for cloud-native apps
and to sum it all up:
we are all about enterprise and engineering at scale.
Thank you for watching this video.
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drop a line below.