Which term describes storing application configurations outside of the application itself in cloud environments?

The term that effectively describes storing application configurations outside of the application itself in cloud environments is decoupling. This practice allows for greater flexibility and scalability as configurations can be modified independently of the application code. By separating configuration data from application logic, organizations can achieve more efficient deployment processes, improve security by managing sensitive information separately, and optimize system performance by enabling different environments (like development, testing, and production) to use different configurations without altering the application itself.

In contrast, containerization involves packaging an application and its dependencies into a container, which may include configurations but doesn’t emphasize the separation of configuration from the application. Configuration management generally focuses on maintaining system configurations consistently across environments but does not specifically highlight the storage of configurations external to applications. Virtualization refers to creating virtual versions of physical resources, such as servers or storage, and does not relate directly to the management of application configurations.