Shulou(Shulou.com)06/03 Report--

Foreword

In fact, no migration path can be used to migrate all traditional applications to the cloud. These applications are usually on physical machines, virtual machines, or locally. Although it is common to redesign the application architecture to accommodate cloud native services, this is not the only answer. Rebuilding the architecture of an existing application as a micro-service architecture or a cloud native architecture faces many challenges, such as refactoring costs, complexity, and application dependencies.

While there are many benefits of modernizing the architecture of applications, many organizations still run existing services on Windows 2003 Servers. The fact that Microsoft no longer supports Windows 2003 poses some challenges. First, people have to start deciding what to do with these applications, especially as the life cycle of Windows 2008 is coming to an end.

Many enterprises want to migrate to modern architectures in the hope that their applications will gain complexity, security, and availability. Containers provide the flexibility to modernize applications and move them to cloud soundtrack services. In this article, we will focus on applications that can be migrated to containers, typically. Net, Web, SQL, and other applications that do not have dependencies but run on Windows2003. You can migrate these applications to containers without changing the code and make them portable in the future. You will enjoy the benefits of running containers on Kubernetes, such as orchestration, availability, higher elastic scaling, and density.

Please note that not all applications and services can run in containers. Some applications have core dependencies (such as databases, storage requirements, and so on) that need to be addressed. In addition, the lifetime of the application needs to be determined based on the business.

Business: advantages of migrating to Kubernetes

There are some key business reasons for migrating these applications to containers, such as:

High return on investment

Traditional Web-based services can be portable

Improved application security

Save time for enterprises to re-evaluate existing applications

Now that Kubernetes supports Windows's worker nodes, you can migrate traditional Windows applications to modern architectures. Windows worker and Linux worker can co-exist on the same Kubernetes platform, that is, operations teams can apply the same set of tools, practices, and processes.

Step1: analyze the migration process from Windows to K8S

Migrating traditional applications to Kubernetes requires a lot of analysis and planning. However, there are some key practices that are necessary, such as:

Decompose the application: split the application into its original form to understand which components are running, how they run, and their dependencies

Discover the services provided by the application and the calls generated in terms of data, network, etc.

Decouple the data layer from the application

Identify and map service dependencies

Test, test and retest

Step2: planning the migration process from Windows to K8S

Migrating to a containerized, .net-based platform is a complex process that involves many steps. Therefore, some key decisions need to be made when implementing this process. The following procedure provides some guidance on the requirements for migrating legacy Windows systems to run on Kubernetes.

Determine which operating system your container requires-- Server Core or Nano Server. This requires selection based on the dependencies of the application.

Follow the compatibility guidelines. Running the Windows container adds strict compatibility rules for the host's OS version and the basic image that the container is running. They must run Windows 2019 because the container and the underlying host share a kernel. As of writing, only the server isolation process is supported. However, Hyper-V isolation will soon be supported (the exact time is unknown), which will facilitate host and container compatibility.

Pack up your traditional applications.

Use the application package to build the initial Docker-based container.

Deploy a new Docker container in the warehouse of your choice

Take full advantage of existing DevOps tools (CI/CD build and release pipeline)

Deploy new Windows applications to the Kubernetes environment that you have built that supports Windows

Test, test, test

Key benefits of migrating Windows applications to K8S

By migrating from Windows to Kubernetes, your legacy applications will enjoy the advantages of your existing container-based applications. In addition, your Windows container will also benefit from the Kubernetes platform itself. Moreover, they can use tools and systems in the Kubernetes ecosystem, including security tools, service grids, monitoring / alerts, and so on.

The combination of these advantages can put you in a good position to make key decisions about the application and explore business use cases. For applications that cannot be migrated, you can't leave them alone due to the lack of support for the underlying operating system, and you still need to decide what to do with them. And since there are no other patches or security remedies available, your business is vulnerable to vulnerabilities and security fixes, so you should take timely action.

Key points for migrating from Windows to K8S

Container-based solutions can save costs

Containers reduce dependencies and provide portability for applications

Docker is already the de facto standard for running containers, while Kubernetes is the de facto standard for container orchestration engines

Kubernetes can host scalable, reliable, and resilient Windows container-based applications as well as Linux-based applications

Organizations running the Kubernetes platform can integrate traditional applications into their DevOps culture and tools

Using native and ecosystem-based Kubernetes tools can improve security and add an additional layer of protection for traditional applications

In Rancher 2.3, GA has support for Windows containers. Introducing all the advantages of Kubernetes to Windows,Rancher 2.3 greatly reduces the complexity of enterprises using Windows containers and provides a quick way to modernize Windows-based legacy applications, whether they run locally or in a multi-cloud environment. In addition, Rancher 2.3 can containerize them and transform them into efficient, secure, and portable multi-cloud applications, eliminating the need to rewrite applications.

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