There is another way, however. You can get you all the way to cloud-native while keeping some apps you can’t part with. Microstack can help. Application modernization is the process of upgrading applications and retreading them to work cloud natively.There are three main approaches to application modernization: serverless, containers and re-platforming.
Serverless: This approach involves moving ahead boldly, leaving one or more applications behind and developing one or more serverless applications. Serverless computing is a set of underlying cloud services that fully removes any semblance of server management. Serverless architecture can perform automatic up- and down-scaling dictated by current workloads and demand. That means you only pay for the resources your applications use. During off-peak hours, serverless apps partially shut down, and you’ll save money. With containers and virtual machines, you’re paying for those resources to be available around the clock. Serverless apps are arguably the high point of cloud nativity. Serverless also delivers the most potential cost reduction. A downside is that apps must be explicitly written to use them. Serverless allows developers to focus on their applications instead of the headaches of managing and operating servers or runtimes. This reduction of ancillary work lets developers save time.Good uses of serverless are for new application builds. Resource-intensive code, such as an image-processing pipeline, is a great use case for serverless. It’s also helpful ad hoc when you need to set up an unexpected workload. And serverless excels when the traffic pattern rises significantly. It automatically detects the load change and adjusts instantly.
Containers: The second way to make existing applications work more efficiently in the cloud is to place them in a container alongside all requisite app dependencies — such as frameworks, runtimes, monitoring, and supporting applications — creating a self-sufficient environment. Layering in microservices and other cloud-native bits may improve elasticity and prime you for perhaps making a bigger change later. Containers are more suitable for companies that want the flexibility to install and use software with specific version requirements. You have full control of the installed programming language and runtime version with containers. That allows applications to be moved quickly between host servers and becomes extremely useful for migrating legacy applications to the cloud because it enables developers to replicate an application’s original running environment.Containers are ideal for organizations that don’t want to rewrite their apps in a cloud service provider’s proprietary code. Using containers, they can pull apart their monolithic application code into smaller pieces that can execute independently.
Re-platforming: The re-platforming approach consists of moving applications almost as is, while replacing or lightly modifying some components to take advantage of the cloud. Customizing code might make your enterprise app support scalability, for example, but probably not with some of the desired functionality of a cloud-native app. One example of a typical re-platforming modification is transforming how a program interacts with the database to benefit from platform services that enable better scaling and higher availability in the cloud environment. Re-platforming lets infrastructure teams focus on higher value-added services for the business.Re-platforming by migrating away from legacy databases is a common approach to modernization. Some will even consider switching to a cloud-native open-source database engine to replace costly licensed ones. When re-platforming database workloads, the goal is to release the organization from the day-to-day care and feeding of the database.