Cloudnativen

Cloudnativen is a term used to describe software development and operations that intentionally embraces cloud-native principles and practices. It denotes an approach to building, deploying, and operating applications in a way that leverages elastic, automated, and resilient cloud environments while avoiding reliance on a single infrastructure stack. While closely aligned with the broader cloud-native movement, the term emphasizes the ongoing integration of cloud-native technologies throughout the software lifecycle.

Core ideas of cloudnativen include containerization, microservices, declarative configurations, and automated lifecycle management. Infrastructure is treated as code, enabling repeatable provisioning and versioned changes. Deployment pipelines often use continuous integration and continuous delivery (or GitOps) to maintain rapid, reliable releases. Kubernetes is a common orchestration platform, together with service meshes, API-first design, and event-driven architectures. Observability, security, and governance are integrated into design and operation, not added after the fact. Serverless and edge computing are also part of the cloudnativen landscape when they support scalable, cloud-aligned workloads.

Typical benefits include improved scalability and resilience, faster time to market, and better alignment with cloud provider capabilities and tools. Challenges involve managing increased architectural complexity, maintaining required skills, potential vendor lock-in, and addressing security and compliance across distributed components.

Relation to standards and communities is strong, with cloudnativen practices often aligning with the cloud-native ecosystem coordinated by organizations such as the Cloud Native Computing Foundation. Related topics include cloud-native computing, containerization, Kubernetes, and DevOps practices.