When we discuss how to accelerate development with K8s, we find out it is one of the main reasons most companies are migrating towards cloud-native applications.
According to Juju’s “Kubernetes and cloud native operations report 2022”, “accelerate development, automate DevOps” was the number one reason why respondents use hybrid or multi-cloud environments. Though it may seem shocking at first, it becomes clear that the culture cloud-native computing brings to the company, translates into automated deployments and less wasted time. In this article, we’re going to explain how this happens, the benefits of OAM and Kubernetes for developers, and how Napptive can further improve time-to-market.
Accelerate development with K8s – What is cloud-native?
A cloud-native application is any application that takes full advantage of cloud platforms. This means that such an application can:
- scale horizontally, automatically
- handle transient failures without degrading
- use cloud platform services
- It must use non-blocking asynchronous communication in a loosely coupled architecture – what we know as microservices.
So, what does cloud-native have to do with development speed? Well, the problem with monolithic applications is that it takes a significant effort to deploy new features to production. It requires the coordination of multiple teams and a lot of upfront integration and functional testing.
When you split a monolithic application into a microservices architecture, you can deliver new features much faster because, (a) you don’t have to simultaneously update every service when one of them changes, and (b) you can work in parallel on different services rather than having to coordinate teams.
Accelerate development with K8s – The benefits for developers
Kubernetes – also known as K8s – is a container orchestration tool. This means that it handles the automatic horizontal scaling of microservices – each one enveloped in a container – and node failures in a cluster so that customers experience zero downtime. Let’s see the ways this architecture can speed up the development process.
1. Isolated and shareable environment
Binaries, scripts, and so on are packaged together with their dependencies and configuration inside a container image. This means that the environment you use for developing will be the same for testing and production. No more “it works on my computer” problems, and easier collaboration between team members, which leads again to faster development.
2. Ready to use images
During testing, developers may find that the environment has been altered and is no longer in a healthy state. Instead of trying to fix it or having to wait for a new one, they can just reload an IT-approved container image and go on working on the same flow.
3. One-for-all solutions
Every cloud provider offers Kubernetes support. This guarantees that you don’t need to spend time rewriting your services for each vendor in case you choose to use hybrid or multi-cloud environments.
4. No more writing infrastructure
Kubernetes provides a level of abstraction over the underlying infrastructure. You can define your application using OAM (Open Application Model) and stop writing infrastructure so that you can devote your time to what’s really important: your business logic.
5. Added functionalities
Cloud providers also offer specific functionalities, like data storage for example. Developers just need to use the provided APIs to interact with them, saving time and effort to develop a custom solution.
6. Automated deployment and easy rollbacks
CI/CD tools can be integrated into Kubernetes so that developers can use fully automated CI/CD pipelines to rapidly test and push new code to production. In addition, it’s possible to roll back changes if necessary in no time.
Napptive enables developer self-service. We encourage you to try our playground and experience accelerated cloud-native development. It’s completely free, all you need to do is simply sign up and get started!
Accelerate development with K8s with Napptive
We’ve been praising Kubernetes’ features but it’s not all a bed of roses. K8s is as powerful as it is complex, and there’s certainly a steep learning curve to leveraging its potential. Some companies simply don’t have the resources to level up their team with a Kubernetes expert.
Luckily, Napptive is here to help! You can easily accelerate development with K8s as Napptive simplifies its use by taking charge of the hard configuration work. So much so, that developers are able to set up clusters on their own, reducing waiting time for testing environments to become available. DevOps don’t have to waste so much time installing and managing one-use infrastructure so they can focus on delivery instead.
If you want to propel your development, why not try our playground? It’s free, simply sign up and get started!