Tuesday, August 20, 2019

Word of the Day: Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

 
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Daily updates on the latest technology terms | August 20, 2019
Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF)

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) is an open source software foundation that promotes the adoption of open source software, as well as technologies such as containers, microservices and service mesh.

The CNCF, a subsidiary of the Linux Foundation, aims to establish a vendor-agnostic community of developers, end users and IT technology and service providers to collaborate on open source projects and develop and deploy scalable applications on cloud computing platforms..

CNCF projects

The technologies that the CNCF researches and creates are called projects, many of which are hosted on GitHub. CNCF projects progress through three stages of maturity:

  • Sandbox stage, which is the initial entry point for projects.
  • Incubating stage, in which a project must meet all sandbox requirements, as well as additional criteria.
  • Graduation phase, in which a project must meet all requirements from the incubating stage, plus additional criteria.

The CNCF hosts projects that span the cloud-native software stack.  CNCF projects include Kubernetes, a container orchestration platform; Prometheus, a systems monitoring and alerting tool; and Envoy, a service proxy for service-oriented architectures and cloud-native apps.

The CNCF maintains the available technologies' brands and ensures that community members appropriately use them. The foundation also stresses a uniform user experience (UX) and software compatibility. There is a centralized continuous integration (CI) dashboard to ease the testing and management of multiple projects across cloud and bare metal platforms.

CNCF Cloud Native Interactive Landscape

The CNCF Cloud Native Interactive Landscape is a resource map that filters and categorizes hundreds of cloud-native projects and tools. It organizes technologies into groups, based on functionality, such as scheduling and orchestration, databases and container registries. CNCF, in collaboration with Redpoint Ventures and Amplify Partners, created this interactive map to help enterprises navigate the vast technology ecosystem around cloud-native application deployments.

The CNCF also created a Cloud Native Trail Map, composed of 10 steps and tool recommendations to guide companies adopting a cloud-native approach. These steps include:

  1. Containerization. The CNCF recommends that an enterprise begins its journey by packaging an application and its dependencies into containers.
  2. CI/CD. A CI/CD pipeline will automate code rollouts and testing, and streamline the creation of new containers.
  3. Orchestration and Application Definition. Orchestration enforces a workflow for automated tasks. For containers, Kubernetes is the leading orchestration platform.
  4. Observability and Analysis. Enterprises must monitor, log and trace an application's progress. For this step, the CNCF recommends projects such as Prometheus.
  5. Service Proxy, Discovery and Mesh. Service discovery minimizes configuration efforts for administrators. The CNCF recommends CoreDNS to provide these service discovery capabilities, and also suggests Linkerd and Envoy, which enable service mesh architectures.
  6. Networking and Policy. For more flexible networking, the CNCF recommends a network project, such as Calico or Weave Net, that is compliant with the Container Networking Interface, another CNCF project aimed at configuring network interfaces in Linux containers.
  7. Distributed Database and Storage. At this step, the CNCF recommends enterprises run databases at a greater scale to support cloud-native apps. Vitess, a clustering system for MySQL databases, is a suggested project.
  8. Streaming and Messaging. For enterprises that need high-performance streaming and messaging, the CNCF recommends the universal Remote Procedure Call (RPC) framework gRPC, or the multi-model messaging system NATS.
  9. Container Registry and Runtime. To store, sign and scan content, the Cloud Native Trail Map recommends Harbor, containerd or rkt.
  10. Software Distribution. For enterprises that need a secure software distribution, the CNCF suggests that companies look at Notary, a platform that provides high levels of trust over digital content.

Enterprises can choose the tools specifically listed on the map, or use the interactive landscape to see other options for each of the steps outlined above. Continue reading...

Quote of the Day

 
"At its core, cloud-native means that developers design, develop and deliver a specific application with the scalability and ephemeral nature of the cloud in mind." - Zachary Flower

Learning Center

 

Test your knowledge of CNCF projects and tools
CNCF projects cover many facets of cloud-native computing, from container orchestration to distributed tracing. Projects regularly transition from sandbox to incubating to graduated. Have you been keeping track? Take this quiz to find out.

Kubernetes storage projects dominate CNCF docket
The CNCF will host a Kubernetes storage project, called Rook, as it kicks off plans to improve the container orchestrator's distributed storage features.

Linux Foundation drives VNF migration to cloud-native functions
At the 2018 Open Networking Summit, The Linux Foundation announced several project updates that are working toward VNF migration to cloud-native network functions. This transition would mean more containers, microservices and cloud environments.

Study tips to ace the CNCF's CKA exam
The CKA exam from the Cloud Native Computing Foundation enables IT admins to prove their expertise with Kubernetes management and orchestration. IT expert Stuart Burns provides tips on what to study and practice for the best chance of success.

Cloud Foundry PaaS undergoes seismic shifts as IT evolves
Cloud Foundry PaaS now accommodates several infrastructure automation technologies not native to the platform. Is it a new beginning, or the beginning of the end?

Quiz Yourself

 
In Kubernetes, a replication controller scales containers horizontally, ensuring there are more or ________ containers to meet the overall application's computing needs.
A. less
B. fewer

Answer

Stay in Touch

 
For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com

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