Challenge
Improving application reliability by migrating an on-prem JAVA application to a managed open-source-first alternative
The client, a significant public sector agency, operates several Java-based applications backed by Oracle databases hosted in on-premises data centers. Because of evolving license context, the client wants to assess the feasibility of migrating their on-prem stack to a cloud-first architecture.
The primary motivators for this project are:
- Higher quality of services by improving uptime SLAs for the application;
- Better scaling of the database backend;
- Improved budget allocation by migrating their database to managed open-source technology
Approach
We designed a migrations roadmap and executed a pilot project.
The client was an existing relationship. We were engaged in building a roadmap and performing the pilot migration of one critical application. Core network connectivity was put in place in earlier projects.
The core tasks at hand were:
- Find an alternative to the proprietary database;
- Find an alternative to the managed virtual on-prem machine;
- Perform a zero-downtime migration to the new platform;
For this use case, we’ve relied on native AWS components.
- Using AWS RDS, we’ve been able to launch PostgreSQL as a managed service. The service offers a fully compatible alternative to the proprietary database technology.
- Using AWS Fargate, we’ve been able to spin up containerized versions of the JAVA application with a higher;
- Using AWS DMS, we’ve been able to use a managed service that can transfer data in bulk and at insert-time;
Results
The client was able to optimize license spending while increasing the reliability of their operational application.
After a short pilot period, the client could host the application in a reliable, monitored way on AWS. Taking down the initial setup results in material cost savings, whereas the application platforming leverages earlier investments in the AWS platform.
