HashiTalks 2024

Migration of a containerized legacy application to the cloud

A classic legacy desktop application is usually not designed to operate in the cloud, not even as a container. Nevertheless, you can’t refuse cloud adoption and the need for scaling your resources on demand - if you want to continue to be successful and open up new business areas. That’s why we took the plunge with our MS Windows-based monolith, whose development began more than two decades ago. The start of the changeover raised more questions than answers.

• Which cloud services shall we use?
• How could Infrastructure as Code, (more precisely Terraform) support us?
• How far will we come within a year?
• Who is the main driver regarding our efforts towards to cloud migration and scalability?
• Which obstacles will we face?

This is (among others) what we are trying to answer.

Transcript

1. Patrick Koch AVL List GmbH (Headquarters) Public Don't give up just because it's legacy Migration of a containerized Legacy Application to the Cloud
2. Public Introduction
3. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 3 Public Patrick Koch • Email: patrick.koch@avl.com • Blog: patrickkoch.dev • LinkedIn: patkoch87 • GitHub: patkoch • Twitter/X: PK_Koch • Mastodon: @patkoch@hostux.social Cloud Adoption Engineer, AVL List GmbH
4. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 4 Public Today’s agenda 4 3 2 Brief overview about the AVL, and the legacy software application Introduction 1 Once upon a time ... and it‘s still there What happened before the cloud? Why Windows containers? The cloud migration journey Let‘s follow the cloud native way! Next steps What’s next? We are still at the beginning ... Conclusion & outlook 6 5 Our derived key learnings Benefits of using IaC
5. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 5 Public AVL List GmbH Founded 1948 More than 11,000 worldwide 4,000 in Graz (headquarters) 45 affiliates worldwide Export quota of 97% AVL List GmbH (“AVL”) is the world’s largest independent company for development, simulation and testing in the automotive industry, and in other sectors. Drawing on its pioneering spirit, the company provides concepts, solutions and methodologies to shape future mobility trends.”
6. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 6 Public Evolved to platform product Container, K8s Automation Framework Web components Started > 25 years ago Python support REST interface 2014 New Generation (unmanaged legacy (C++) and managed (C#) code). Windows® application (component & full integration in internal products) 2018 ~ 8200 files ~ 2,9 Mio LOC Linux components (data, Python) 2022 ... “A legacy system is outdated computing software and/or hardware that is still in use. ” ~ 800 customers ~ 23000 users The application to migrate in the cloud: AVL CONCERTO
7. Public Once upon a time ... What happened before the cloud?
8. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 8 Public Traditional use case: the engine test bed
9. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 9 Public Data processing with AVL CONCERTO
10. Public The cloud migration journey starts…
11. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 11 Public An evolution happens – why even more automation, and more data? 2021 .. Huge testbed for single unit under test (UUT) 1 Operator per testbed Very high costs Exchanging of unit is labour-intesive One testing unit for multiple UUTs (Battery Cells) 1 Operator for whole lab Costs per UUT are much lower UUT exchange works automated 2021 ..
12. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 12 Public Short-term approach for migrating to the cloud Run your legacy SW as a Windows container on a hybrid cloud platform! Lift & Shift (Rehost) Whole application is taken and pushed into container not possible / would cause to much costs Refactoring Rebuild
13. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 14 Public The solution idea Source: https://docs.microsoft.com/de-de/azure/architecture/solution-ideas/articles/migrate-existing-applications-with-aks “Easily migrate existing application to container(s) and run within the Azure managed Kubernetes service (AKS)”
14. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 15 Public The goal of the first implementation Azure Container Registry Azure Kubernetes Service Azure Virtual Machine Azure File Share Container 1 2 3 4
15. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 16 Public The result of the first implementation
16. Public Next steps – go cloud native! Cloud Windows Containers
17. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 18 Public mid-term approach for migrating to the cloud Refactor core parts of your monolith and run them as Linux container Lift & Shift (Rehost) Whole application is taken and pushed into container Next logical step Refactoring Rebuild
18. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 19 Public Determine the core components selected for refactoring Native Data management subsytem COM .Net Managed subsytem Native application Managed GUI Native GUI COM REST Python Python pybind Python Python Python Python Native Data management subsytem Windows Linux
19. Public Benefits of using IaC
20. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 22 Public Empower the developer • Developers are capable of provisioning the resources they need • Having fun with provisioning/destroying/changing the infrastructure AKS icon source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/icons/ resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" { name = "example-resources" location = "West Europe" } resource "azurerm_kubernetes_cluster" "example" { name = "patricks-aks" location = azurerm_resource_group.example.location resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.example.name dns_prefix = "exampleaks1" default_node_pool { name = "default" node_count = 1 vm_size = "Standard_D2_v2" }
21. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 23 Public Infrastructure can be version controlled • Version control the configurations • Be able to reproduce specific versions of your infrastructure • Feel free to experiment Git icon source: https://git-scm.com/downloads/logos resource "azurerm_resource_group" "example" { name = "example-resources" location = "West Europe" } resource "azurerm_kubernetes_cluster" "example" { name = "patricks-aks" location = azurerm_resource_group.example.location resource_group_name = azurerm_resource_group.example.name dns_prefix = "exampleaks1" default_node_pool { name = "default" node_count = 1 vm_size = "Standard_D2_v2" }
22. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 24 Public Increase the Automation – Establish Pipelines Terraform Configurations Azure Azure DevOps Pipeline • Create pipelines for triggering the Terraform commands • Controlled way of provisioning/destroying the resources • Everyone can trigger the pipeline
23. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 25 Public Increase the Automation – Establish Pipelines • Create pipelines for triggering the Terraform commands • Controlled way of provisioning/destroying the resources • Everyone can trigger the pipeline Video source: Azure Portal
24. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 26 Public Decrease the costs • Provision when you need it • Estimate costs upfront using dedicated tools
25. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 28 Public Conclusion Decide for a cloud migration strategy first Start lightweight with your first implementation Use an Infrastructure as Code approach Increase your automation
26. Public www.avl.com Thank you Change is the Essence of Innovation.
27. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 30 Public Picture Sources https://www.genardmethod.com/blog/ your-speechs-introduction-how-to- make-it-powerful https://www.avl.com Slide 1 Slide 2 https://pixabay.com/photos/car- citroen-france-vintage-vehicle- 2184905/ Slide 7 Windows: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi le:Windows_Logo_(1992-2001).svg PCs: https://www.impulse.de/wp- content/uploads/2015/10/gebrauchte- hardware_fotolia620-620x340.jpg Python: https://www.python.org/ Linux: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia /commons/d/dd/Linux_logo.jpg Slide 6 https://pixabay.com/de/photos/geb%C 3%A4ude-kran-baustelle- ger%C3%BCstbau-1804030/ Slide 10
28. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 31 Public Picture Sources Engine Test Bed: http://www.avl.com Battery Cell: https://www.avl.com/en/testing- solutions/e-mobility-testing/battery-testing/avl- battery-cell-ts Slide 11 https://www.pexels.com/photo/man- jumping-on-intermodal-container- 379964/ Slide 12 & Slide 18 https://learn.microsoft.com/de- de/azure/cloud-adoption- framework/migrate/ Slide 14 Azure VM Icon: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ AKS Icon: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ Azure Share Icon: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ ACR Icon: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ Container Icon: https://icons8.de/icons/set/container Slide 15 Azure: https://icons8.de/icons/set/azure- | Prefect: https://www.prefect.io/ | AKS: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ | ACR: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ | Kafka: https://kafka.apache.org/ | KEDA: https://keda.sh/ | Clickhouse: https://clickhouse.com/ | PostgreSQL: https://www.postgresql.org/ | MySQL: https://docs.azure.cn/en-us/mysql-database-on- azure/ | Elastic: https://www.elastic.co/de/elasticsearch/ | Terraform: https://www.terraform.io/ Slide 20
29. Patrick Koch | | 16 February 2024 | / 32 Public Picture Sources AKS Logo: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ Slide 22 Slide 23 Git icon source: https://git- scm.com/downloads/logos Slide 27 Terraform icon: https://www.terraform.io/ Python: https://icons8.de/icons/set/python Linux: https://icons8.de/icons/set/linux Prefect: https://www.prefect.io/ Terraform: https://www.terraform.io/ Docker: https://icons8.de/icons/set/docker Kubernetes: https://icons8.de/icons/set/kubernetes AKS: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ Azure DevOps Service: https://learn.microsoft.com/en- us/azure/architecture/icons/ Azure: https://icons8.de/icons/set/azure- Windows: https://icons8.de/icons/set/windows Slide 28 Slide 28