{"id":74204,"date":"2018-12-04T09:30:28","date_gmt":"2018-12-04T17:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/open.microsoft.com\/?p=74204"},"modified":"2025-06-30T00:02:37","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T07:02:37","slug":"announcing-cnab-cloud-agnostic-format-packaging-running-distributed-applications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opensource.microsoft.com\/blog\/2018\/12\/04\/announcing-cnab-cloud-agnostic-format-packaging-running-distributed-applications\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing CNAB: a cloud-agnostic format for packaging and running distributed applications"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThe day of the distributed app is near.\u201d That is the mantra we\u2019ve been repeating for years. But with robust cloud offerings, the microservice pattern, orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, and the REST-ification of everything, we\u2019re already there. It is<\/em> the day of the distributed application. Almost. We\u2019ve gotten the \u201cdistributed\u201d thing down, but in doing so, we may have neglected the \u201capplication\u201d part. And that\u2019s where CNAB \u2013 Cloud Native Application Bundles \u2013 comes in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we talk about distributed applications, we are referring to an architecture for building applications using the rich array of cloud services and\/or on-premises resources at our disposal. But distributed applications introduce a layer of complexity, using numerous resources, tracking different versions, and managing multiple environments. If we want to treat a distributed application as a single app<\/em>, there are three distinct pain points we need to address:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. We need to be able to describe<\/strong> our application as a single artifact, even when it is composed of a variety of cloud technologies;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. We must be able to provision<\/strong> our applications without having to master dozens of tools; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. We need to manage lifecycle<\/strong> (particularly installation, upgrade, and deletion) of our applications.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    We partnered with Docker to solve these problems for ISVs and enterprises. And today we are excited to announce CNAB: Cloud Native Application Bundles, a new open source package format specification<\/em> created in close partnership with Docker and broadly supported by HashiCorp, Bitnami and more. With CNAB, you can manage distributed applications using a single installable file, reliably provision application resources in different environments, and easily manage the application lifecycle without having to use multiple toolsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    CNAB relies on a handful of technologies you are already familiar with \u2013 JSON, Docker containers, and OpenPGP \u2013 and describes a format for packaging, installing, and managing distributed applications. By design, it is cloud agnostic. It works with everything from Azure to on-prem OpenStack, from Kubernetes to Swarm, and from Ansible to Terraform. It can execute on a workstation, a public cloud, an air-gapped network, or a constrained IoT environment. And it is flexible enough to accommodate an array of platform needs, from customer-facing marketplaces to internal build pipelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Broadly, CNAB brings several features that aren\u2019t currently in the ecosystem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n