December 12, 2018 // By Dave Sauer
For companies with a large portfolio of local .NET applications, the idea of modernizing and moving those apps to the cloud can seem daunting. Key determinations must be made – replatforming or modernizing, .NET core or .NET Framework, which level of cloud-native – that can drastically change your approach. We have a simple solution. It’s called the Pivotal Cloud Foundry (PCF), which enables companies to deliver an app to every major private and public cloud from a single platform. Simple, speedy, and safe for your applications.
These .NET systems are a paradox – crucial to business processes today, yet an obstacle to tomorrow’s requirements. Enterprise developers spend much of their time reconciling these two realities. But that’s where microservices come in. Today, thanks to microservices, it’s eminently achievable to take a .NET monolith, such as a three-tier web application, and update to use in the cloud. Not only that but it’s a snap to modernize applications into microservices and run the microservices atop the PCF.
Let’s take it one step at a time. When migrating your .NET applications to the cloud, we can help you assess four levels of cloud-native maturity:
Are Your Applications Cloud Ready?
There are two important requirements for optimal cloud readiness: no permanent disk access and each application being self-contained. At this stage, the process of setting up continuous delivery of the applications being deployed to the cloud should be started.
Are Your Applications Cloud Friendly?
At this stage applications are implementing part, if not all, of the 12 Factor App methodology. These applications can leverage the ability to scale out both vertically and horizontally, while also leveraging the platform’s security and high availability features.
Are Your Applications Cloud Resilient?
Allowing an application to fail gracefully and stop a failure from cascading to underlying systems builds resiliency. If an application is trying to communicate with a service that is not working, then it should respond to the client without calling the underlying system continuously. This response should be a known condition and not an exception.
Are Your Applications Cloud Native?
Cloud-native applications fully leverage a microservice architecture. This should be the first consideration of designing any new application and should be the focus of any modernization effort of an existing application.
There are two common patterns for moving a legacy application onto a modern platform like PCF: replatforming and modernizing. Most companies that have a large portfolio of .NET apps will need to consider a mix of both.
Replatforming
Commonly referred to as a “lift and shift,” replatforming is a simple migration from legacy client-server infrastructure to a modern platform like PCF. This is a good option when the app is simple, like a form-based app, and can be deprecated in a reasonable timeframe. Replatforming should also include the setup of the continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines for code delivery. Replatforming almost always results in hardware optimization, application availability and increased security.
Modernization
Modernization is redesigning and reworking an application to being truly cloud native. This approach helps you realize the full benefits of PCF. This process decomposes an app and reassembles those pieces in more of a microservice architecture. This isn’t done as one fast swipe across the application but rather smaller, repeatable steps. Done correctly this should insure a longer lifespan for your application and enhance its business value.
For more information on how to modernize your local .NET applications, read the full white paper.
Magenic is a proud partner of Pivotal and recipient of Pivotal’s 2018 “Breakthrough Systems Integrator Partner of the Year” award.