In this chapter, we covered the fundamental concepts of cloud-native systems. Our definition of cloud-native is focused on your context. You need an architecture that will grow with you and not weigh you down now. Cloud-native is more than architecting and optimizing to take advantage of the cloud. It is an entirely different way of thinking and reasoning about software architecture and development practices. Cloud-native breaks free of monolithic thinking to empower self-sufficient teams that continuously deliver innovation with confidence. This confidence is derived from the knowledge that cloud-native systems are powered by disposable infrastructure, composed of bounded isolated components, and scale globally, so that they remain responsive in the face of failures. Cloud-native teams embrace disposable architecture, leverage value-added cloud services, and welcome polyglot cloud to provide the strong foundation that enables them to take control of the full-stack, focus on the value proposition, and drive cultural change from the bottom up by earning trust through successful execution.
In the next chapter, we will dive down into the anatomy of cloud-native systems.