Decision Support for the Migration of the Application Database Layer to the Cloud

Abstract

Abstract-Migrating an existing application to the Cloud is a complex and multi-dimensional problem requiring in many cases adapting the application in significant ways. Looking specifically into the database layer of the application, i.e. the aspect providing data persistence and manipulation capabilities, this involves dealing with differences in the granularity of interactions, refactoring of the application to cope with remote data sources, and addressing data confidentiality concerns. Toward this goal, in this work we present an application migration methodology which incorporates these aspects, and a decision support, application refactoring and data migration tool that assists application developers in realizing this methodology. For purposes of evaluating our proposal we present the results of a case study conducted in the context of an eScience project.

A process for pattern identification, authoring, and application

“…Thus, the pattern language is managed as a fully navigable graph in the wiki. Finally, existing tools guiding the decision support aiming at the initial selection for applicable patterns from the cloud data patterns domain [24] should be integrated with this wiki in order to find suitable entry points to pattern languages using a wizard-based analysis of users' requirements.…”

“…In many cases, this activity can be supported using recommendation tools that enable querying the pattern language and navigating through the interrelations among patterns. Examples: for cloud data patterns [22], recommendation tools have been created [24] in the form of questionnaires that can be completed by users wishing to migrate their applications -and especially the data handled by them -to a cloud environment. Based on the answers given by users and annotations of possible answers to patterns, the users can be presented with a list of applicable patterns sorted regarding the likelihood of their applicability in the given use case.…”

“…Through the use of decision support systems, users of these patterns are guided during the pattern selection depending on the application at hand and the cloud provider to be used etc. Based on user selections, patterns to be implemented during the migration, for example, to obfuscate data, can be recommended [24]. [6] [7]: as part of our work on the IT management standard TOSCA [19], we researched how management processes are handling IT applications during runtime can be developed using a pattern-based management approach.…”

A New ETL Approach Based on Data Virtualization

“…Much of the prior work on data migration focused on data migration approaches or transformation tools. Data migration requires a very skilled and time-consuming human effort and it results in data duplication [10][11] . The virtual ETL operates with the abstracted representation of the objects or entities gathered from the variety of relational, semi-structured and unstructured data sources, such as QlikView.…”

CadaML: A Modeling Language for Multi-Tenant Cloud Application Data Architectures

“…A few meta-models includes multi-tenancy patterns for relational databases but do not comprise concepts to model a cloud data architecture. In contrast, CadaML allows to explicitly model a data architecture for different cloud storage types with partitioning schemes, in line with current best practices in this space, e.g., [19].…”