Sudo Show 6: Elements of Cloud Native Architecture

Sudo Show episode 6 continues our cloud arc by digging into how applications actually got to cloud native architecture, starting with the monolith and working forward from there.

Brandon and I walk through the evolution step by step. We start with the old monolithic deployments where updating one component meant taking the whole application offline, usually at 11pm on a Tuesday after everyone on both coasts logged off. From there we cover three tier architecture and how clusters and load balancers made maintenance windows survivable, then into microservices and the hyperscale era where front end and back end services finally scale independently. We get into container architecture, scale to zero, serverless versus function as a service naming debates, and why persistence has to live outside the container if you want any of this to actually work.

We also touch on open source sustainability, including a Linux Foundation contribution report that’s worth a read if you’ve ever wondered who’s actually putting resources back into the projects everyone depends on. And we closed out with a new segment we’re calling the productivity corner, where Brandon and I compare morning routines and talk about why a little structure goes a long way when you’re working from home.

This one connects pretty directly to how I frame infrastructure evolution when I’m teaching Linux administration at JCCC.