Open for open source

The next major tech revolution is currently underway in the IT landscape. Software development is moving away from monolithic, quite cumbersome application architectures and operating systems to smaller, lightweight micro services based on container technology. These services run independently of one another and are also decoupled. This makes the development process more agile, and release cycles are accelerated. Automatic scaling and “intelligent” load balancing help reduce operating expenses and improve stability. Services are monitored automatically when they begin, and restarted in the event of any errors.

Kubernetes at the heart of the Cloud Native movement

In recent years, we’ve seen the emergence of a growing ecosystem of infrastructure components and frameworks covering all aspects of the development and operation of micro services. Major companies such as Google, Amazon and Red Hat are working together to develop new projects under the umbrella “The link will open in a new window Cloud Native Computing Foundation” . At the heart of this Cloud Native movement  Cloud native technologies allow companies to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private and hybrid clouds. Best practices, e.g. containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure and declarative APIs, exemplify this approach. Source: github.com is “Kubernetes”, an open source system for automating deployment, scaling and administering container-based applications. This infrastructure is used for the automated operating and monitoring of thousands of services. Kubernetes is either developed and operated in the cloud, or, as is the case with PostFinance, in the on-site data center.

Four years in operational use

The ecosystem around Kubernetes itself is growing very rapidly at the moment. Various new open source projects are on the road to becoming mature so they can be used in an operational environment. These may involve components for monitoring, alarming and tracing, or extremely complex frameworks for automated routing and load balancing for the development of service mesh networks. At PostFinance, innovative technologies (especially those that are open source) have been an integral component of its technology strategy for several years. This is why we have been tracking developments regarding Kubernetes from the very beginning. The first installations have been in operational use with us for four years now: they have proven very reliable and have continued to evolve to such an extent that we are now successfully using different core application areas based on open source Cloud Native technology in our data center. 

What’s needed? Committed teams and interaction

Assembling and developing this infrastructure, however, is by no means easy. We need a great deal of specific, technical expertise and a pioneering spirit to be able to select the components and integrate them into our landscape, and to ensure everything runs smoothly. Technology is developing very fast on the market. To make sure we don’t lag behind, the first thing we need is highly committed teams to keep a close eye on trends so they are always up to date on technical progress. And the second thing is constant interaction with partners and companies involved in a similar environment.

Join us at the Cloud Native meetups!

That’s why PostFinance is involved in organizing the Cloud Native meetups in Berne, a platform for sharing expertise on Cloud Native trends. The most recent event in the PostFinance Arena was attended by over 100 tech enthusiasts. PostFinance, too, was represented, with its speakers giving two talks and providing an insight into the work they are doing to develop mission-critical applications based on Kubernetes.