Does it still make sense to use the expression “Pets vs. Cattle” when referring to on-premises enterprise IT vs. cloud-native applications? The term “pets” is still accurate to describe servers because we usually name them (like we do our beloved pets) and they require a lot of care and maintenance. This stands in direct opposition to how “cattle” (cloud-native applications) are treated. When issues arise, instances are given a generic numeric name for reference, and when one stops working, it is destroyed and replaced with a new working instance.
But the truth is, real-world cattle are valuable and not very disposable. In this post, Alastair Cooke makes the case for changing the metaphor “Pets vs. Cattle’ to “Pets vs. Poultry” to be more in line with what we experience today.
Alastair Cooke comments:
It has been a while since the phrase “Pets versus Cattle” was on the top of the conversational pile, but I think that it is a useful tool for approaching application architecture. Originally the phrase referred to on-premises enterprise IT as pets.
Read more at Demitasse Pets Vs. Poultry in Your Application
