Companies are developing and running software in much smaller packages called containers. These small containers collectively deliver services as a cloud native application. Using container technology to run cloud native applications can dramatically lower costs, improve efficiency and speed workflow ... but only if all of the pieces fit together properly.
Containerized apps have a fundamental impact on storage infrastructure that is not obvious. A key challenge is how to operate storage for stateful applications without adding unnecessary complexity.
Legacy applications run in an environment that is:
- Manually operated
- Siloed storage systems
- Static
Modern apps operate in a new model that :
- Orchestrated
- Scalable
- Dynamic, mobile, portable
This sets expectations that legacy infrastructure can’t address. The result is a disruptive, once in 25 year shift, requiring revolutionary changes for storage infrastructure.
Cloud native apps need container storage that is:
- Automated; infrastructure as service, orchestration integrated, automatic data locality, failover, high availability and data recovery
- Scales horizontally and vertically
- Automated mobility
- Developer centric
- Runs on any platform
- Storage-as-a-service