New Cloud Technologies Geared Towards Faster Applications
May 17, 2017
The future of cloud computing lies in speed. New technologies – and new iterations of existing technologies – are designed to allow web applications and services to perform better under heavy load. How can these technologies benefit cloud-based apps in general?
Single-IP Gateway
One thing that cloud computing has been able to offer is better resource allocation. Instead of relying on physical hardware, cloud servers have the ability to allocate resources virtually. The impact on performance is profound, and cloud servers are capable of offering more server resources at a lower cost.
It’s not just performance that gains a lot from the nature of cloud infrastructure. The older approach of setting up multiple gateways to handle a heavier load is rendered obsolete now that a single IP, single gateway approach is more capable. One single IP acts as the front-end gateway to all backends.
The setup is no longer limited by location and other parameters. The same single-IP gateway can redirect visitors to the right node due to the way it is set up. In a distribution network set up, for example, traffic will be directed to the closest cloud for lower latency and better performance.
Advanced Load Balancing
Similar to the way a single gateway can be more robust, a cloud load balancer can also be configured for better performance and maximum efficiency. There is no need to rely on older methods such as round-robin or load-dependent redirects because cloud servers are not set up to lean on individual physical hardware.
This enables intelligent scaling, an approach that greatly benefits apps and web services by companies who are trying to stay lean. Instead of having to pay for resources that are not always in use, cloud servers can be configured to automatically scale up – and scale back down – as needed. The load balancer can recognize the load of every cloud available and direct traffic to the most capable one under heavy loads.
Better Security Measures
A lot of older web infrastructure relied on lighter security measures for one particular reason: performance. Heavy traffic filtering and multiple firewalls have the tendency to stress the server too much, causing performance issues when a sudden spike of traffic hits the data center.
The new breed of cloud-oriented firewalls and security measures deployed on a service level once again eliminates the problem completely. Even with the most advanced encryption and security measures in place, cloud applications can still run optimally.
Even better, there is no need to combine a firewall and the application layer into one cloud server. The two can be configured to run on separate servers, with allocated resources for each of them. This, combined with the two advancements we covered earlier, allow applications to run faster and be more stable.