{"id":6720,"date":"2020-08-11T22:11:29","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T20:11:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.synthesis.co.za\/?p=6720"},"modified":"2020-08-11T22:11:29","modified_gmt":"2020-08-11T20:11:29","slug":"preparing-your-microsoft-net-service-to-be-hosted-on-the-cloud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.synthesis.co.za\/preparing-your-microsoft-net-service-to-be-hosted-on-the-cloud\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing your Microsoft .NET service to be hosted on the cloud"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dean Maier, Synthesis Cloud Project Lead<\/p>\n

Whether you<\/span>\u00a0a<\/span>re\u00a0<\/span>already<\/span>\u00a0underway<\/span>\u00a0on\u00a0<\/span>your<\/span>\u00a0cloud migration journey<\/span> and modernising your applications<\/span>\u00a0or<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>are\u00a0<\/span>just\u00a0<\/span>looking to\u00a0<\/span>run a<\/span>n existing<\/span>\u00a0service in the cloud<\/span>, this guide will assist you <\/span>with some of the\u00a0<\/span>checklist items\u00a0<\/span>you\u00a0<\/span>should<\/span>\u00a0consider<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Microsoft has two<\/span>\u00a0primary<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>frameworks or SDK\u2019s that\u00a0<\/span>are used for service development and these are namely .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>f<\/span>ramework and .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>c<\/span>ore.<\/span> You can read more information <\/span>here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Legacy<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>f<\/span>ramework\u00a0<\/span>version 4.8 is Microsoft\u2019s last version of the .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>framework. Due to the dependency on the .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0runtime which<\/span>\u00a0is only supported by Microsoft Windows operating systems<\/span>\u00a0and the fact<\/span>\u00a0that it is no longer under active development<\/span>\u00a0it would be fair to consider any<\/span>\u00a0.<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0framework solutions as legacy<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

G<\/span>iven the advent of the .<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a0core platform and the direction\u00a0<\/span>by Microsoft\u00a0<\/span>making<\/span>\u00a0.<\/span>NET<\/span>\u00a05\u00a0<\/span>\u201cthe only\u00a0<\/span>.<\/span>NET<\/span>\u201d<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>you should consider an upgrade rather hastily a<\/span>s more and more solutions are requiring cross-platform capabilities<\/span>\u00a0and features\u00a0<\/span>enabled<\/span>\u00a0by the newer framework<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This guide can assist you in your migration efforts. Get more information <\/span>here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>You can also leverage the <\/span>AWS porting assistant<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>which can\u00a0<\/span>help you analyse<\/span> your solution, your dependencies<\/span>\u00a0and port\u00a0<\/span>your application for you.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

General considerations<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

When making the choice to\u00a0<\/span>deploy your application or service to the cloud the one thing that becomes apparent, or at least I hope, is that the term stateless becomes\u00a0<\/span>truly relevant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stateless<\/span>\u00a0(as per\u00a0<\/span>Wikipedia<\/a>)<\/strong>\u00a0refers to\u00a0<\/span>no session information\u00a0<\/span>r<\/span>etained by the receiver, usually a server<\/span>. This means that the <\/span>information you store in memory or on disk c<\/span>annot be relied on\u00a0<\/span>and<\/span>\u00a0should not be relied on.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

You should account for any dependencies you have<\/span>\u00a0an<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0find alternatives on where to store and access state information such as your data caching,<\/span>\u00a0application configuration and any files you may need to interact with.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hosting<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Although it is simple enough to host your application \u201cas-is\u201d on a Microsoft Windows Server in the cloud it does not really serve any benefit apart from simply running in a different location.<\/span>\u00a0In\u00a0<\/span>fact,<\/span>\u00a0it may prove troublesome\u00a0<\/span>when you start looking at scaling and resiliency.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

AWS for example provides you with the ability to launch an EC2 instance with a\u00a0wide range\u00a0of supplied AMI\u2019s (Amazon Machine Image) and you can create your own too. They\u00a0provide you access to a\u00a0selection\u00a0of operating systems which are optimized for start-up speed and security\u00a0and even\u00a0have specific versions of software pre-configured.<\/p>\n

You could consider hosting your application in some of the following ways:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n