the advent of multi-cloud methods, the decision between cloud-native vs. cloud-agnostic approaches has become more relevant for companies of all sizes and specializations. As the choice will have a significant influence on the capacity of semantic layer architecture solutions to survive in the cloud, it should be approached smartly.
What Exactly Is Cloud-Native Architecture?
Cloud-native design enables developers to create apps that operate natively inside a certain cloud environment. While some businesses retain their own private cloud platforms, most rely on a third-party platform provider, such as Google Cloud, Azure, AWS, Alibaba Cloud, or Oracle.
Thanks to this setup, software teams benefit from complex capabilities and plugins inside the unique cloud platform, as well as the dependability of managed services while using this strategy. Developers and other application managers are relieved of the constraints of numerous back-end setups and integration problems. Thus, in the event of a significant local failure, they can typically rely on the provider’s help.
As a result, developers may create applications and services that can only be used on a certain cloud platform. While some of these proprietary platforms may be able to preserve cross-functionality, particularly as multi-cloud use grows, migrating such apps to another platform would almost certainly need extensive code reworking and application rebuilds.
What Is Special About Cloud-Agnostic Architecture?
A cloud-agnostic architectural approach focuses on creating apps that can operate in any cloud environment flawlessly. Cloud-independent apps and services do not rely on the constrained toolchains of a single large cloud platform. They may instead integrate with a totally tailored combination of vendor-supplied and open-source technologies. While there is some risk in terms of tool compatibility and uniform application administration, the company is free of vendor lock-in.
Many businesses value the flexibility and independence of a cloud-agnostic strategy, which is why it has gained acceptance in many development shops. Developing a vendor-independent software or service, on the other hand, requires extra effort to construct and integrate all of the essential features, which may be a time-consuming process for development teams.
Cloud-Native Architecture vs. Cloud-Agnostic Architecture
While both architectural methods are aimed at the same thing — hosting distributed applications in the cloud, the cloud-native strategy provides development teams with a significantly different experience than the cloud-agnostic approach. While there are several comparison points to consider, there are still some significant areas of application development and architectural management where the distinctions between cloud-native and cloud-agnostic differ.
1. Cost
Enterprise clients are often charged by proprietary cloud service providers depending on a mix of license and data storage needs, enabling enterprises to use a pay-as-you-go approach rather than pay flat-rate subscription rates. Organizations, on the other hand, are on their own with the cloud-agnostic strategy. Some believe that cloud-agnostic designs allow more direct control over expenses and the capacity to make expenditure modifications as required since they have better access to open-source technologies.
2. Adaptability
Cloud-agnostic alternatives often provide greater development freedom than cloud-native approaches. This is because, with cloud-agnostic designs, developers are not limited to the capabilities or tools of a single proprietary cloud platform. Furthermore, cloud-agnostic design often contains open-source tools, libraries, and integrations that update on a regular basis to suit evolving development trends. Cloud-native apps, on the other hand, might benefit from a proprietary platform’s built-in features for security, networking, monitoring, and other underlying architectural problems that hinder major development efforts.
3. Market entry
Because of the diversity of prebuilt templates, tools, and ready-to-use infrastructure that most services provide inside their proprietary platform, a cloud-native approach can frequently allow for a speedier time to market for application development than a cloud-agnostic strategy. Thus, developers can create, deploy, and test apps right away, and a simplified mechanism for speedy multi-cloud deployments is possible.
What to Choose?
Cloud-native and cloud-agnostic methods aren’t mutually incompatible, and you don’t have to go all in when deciding on a strategy. Each approach may potentially be used for various business teams to meet their distinct demands.