The Internet of things is like a bicycle. If designing and implementing the hardware embedded system is one wheel of the bicycle. Using the data collected somehow through an application and having a full-stack infrastructure in place forms the other wheel of our Internet of things bicycle. With the advent of cloud technology, more and more companies are moving and adapting to cloud technology. Leaving the maintenance of the server’s infrastructure and other nuances to the cloud platforms.
In cloud technology, there are majorly three types of services that are available.
Infrastructure as a service: It provides the infrastructural base needed for any application. And the user decides what he needs to do with the available infrastructure. E.g., AWS, GCP.
Software as a service: The user directly uses a full fledged application as a service. Gmail is an example of Software as a service.
Platform as a service: It provides an environment for developing an application. The user needs to focus on the development part leaving everything else like creating an environment, setting up interfaces, etc.
In this blog, we will learn about one such platform as a service called Cloud Foundry.
What is Cloud Foundry?
It is an open-source cloud computing platform. Provides a developer with fast application development and deployment. It also provides the necessary developing environment along with a highly scalable architecture with interoperability.
Where does the Cloud Foundry fit?
A developer often needs to think about what infrastructure he/she will need. Set up an environment for the application and then start the development cycle. The cloud vendors provide the base infrastructure for the development. Whereas Cloud Foundry, builds on it allowing the developer to develop the application without worrying about other things.
Run Time Architecture
CF components include a self-service application execution engine, an automation engine for application deployment and lifecycle management. It also includes a scriptable command-line interface (CLI), and integration with development tools to ease deployment processes.
The router routes the application traffic and manages the load application efficiently. The authentication layer then looks after a secure communication between the load and the cloud platform (identity management). The Service brokers are generally third party resources (databases) needed by the application, so any change in them must simultaneously change the application code. But what if the application is running at the same time? Hence the service brokers bind the resource and the application together. The layer beneath it looks after the communication between different parts of the system. At the same time, the metrics collector and app log aggregator collect the instance’s information. The application runs in the garden, and the blob store is the location where its metadata is stored. The app cycle layer allocates and looks after the resources that the application needs like repositories, source codes, etc.
Why to use Cloud Foundry?
Application portability: Cloud Foundry can help you deploy your application in various environments.
Application autoscaling: Depending upon the users currently using the application cloud foundry allocates the resources needed for the application accordingly.
Compatible: It is compatible with various IAAS that you use for building your application.
Polyglot: It is quite flexible when it comes to using a programming language for development.
Certainly it is clear that if one wants to just focus on the product development and not worry about anything else Cloud Foundry is your go to. However before switching to cloud foundry you must check that your application ticks all the twelve requirements that are necessary for an application.
