From Cloud to Cloud Native and Kubernetes

In this chapter, you’ll see how computing has evolved over the past 20 or so years, what the cloud is and how it appeared, and how IT landscapes have changed with the introduction of containers. You’ll learn about fundamentals such as Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and Function-as-a-Service (FaaS), as well as learning about the transition from monolithic to microservice architectures and getting a first glimpse at Kubernetes.

This chapter does not map directly to a specific KCNA exam objective, but these topics are crucial for anyone who’d like to tie their career to modern infrastructures. If you are already familiar with the basic terms, feel free to quickly verify your knowledge by going directly to the recap questions. If not, don’t be surprised that things are not covered in great detail, as this is an introductory chapter, and we’ll dive deeper into all of the topics in later chapters.

We’re going to cover the following topics in this chapter:  

• The cloud and Before Cloud (B.C.)
• Evolution of the cloud and cloud-native
• Containers and container orchestration
• Monolithic versus microservices applications
• Kubernetes and its origins

Let’s get started!