Modernising legacy platforms through easy automation

Sometimes, you have the feeling you are stuck with legacy infrastructure. But is legacy really such a bad thing? Not necessarily. Using the right tooling, easy automation offers a way to make your Oracle or IBM infrastructure modern and agile again. So, what about modernising legacy platforms? Enjoy your read!

For obvious reasons, this year’s Puppetize – the official Puppet user conference – was a virtual event, renamed Puppetize Digital. At the conference, we hosted a session on modernising legacy platforms through easy automation.

Companies such as Oracle and IBM are often referred to as vendors of legacy software. It’s rather simple: they are considered legacy because they have been around for years. And yes, the concepts their platforms are build upon, are very different from more modern ones, like cloud and cloud-native.

Everybody does it

Companies tend to move away from their current environment for various reasons. Generally speaking, those systems tend to be extremely sturdy and difficult to manage. Quite often, you lack the resources and expertise needed to manage and adjust their infrastructure, leaving you no choice but to call in expensive specialized consultants, even for the smallest details. And finally, you are unhappy about those systems licensing policies, as they differ quite a lot from the pay-as-you-use models that are offered in the cloud.

On top of that, there is this general trend to move to the cloud. So, why do you make the strategic choice for the cloud? Because everybody else is doing it? Or because there’s this general sentiment, these days, that the only way to keep up, is to look at cloud, cloud-native and containers.

Agility, resilience, maintainability

What does that mean in reality? Running an infrastructure in the cloud and running cloud-native infrastructure are two very different things. In their book ‘Cloud-native infrastructure’ Justin Garrison and Kris Nova define cloud-native as infrastructure which sole purpose is to run applications. Because the main objective of looking at IT as a business driver is: running applications that generate business value.

Cloud-native infrastructure, however, has some specific characteristics. The infrastructure is hidden behind useful abstractions, controlled by APIs and managed by software. Abstractions are useful as they hide complexity for the end-user. They allow more complex uses of technology, but, at the same time, limit the way the technology is used.

Cloud-native is controlled by APIs, meaning that each new layer is responsible for controlling the IaaS below it. The layer also exposes its own APIs to be controlled by a consumer. Finally, software-controlled infrastructure enables infrastructure to scale and offers a solution for resilience, provisioning and maintainability. The software needs to be aware of the infrastructure’s abstractions, know how to take an abstract resource and implement it in consumable infrastructure components accordingly. In other words: just like Puppet Resources would do.

Modern infrastructure

Sure, cloud-native infrastructures offer a new level of agility and flexibility. But does that justify the sense of urge to move away from legacy we feel in the market these days? Personally, we believe that it is possible to build and maintain an agile infrastructure on the more ‘traditional’ platforms as well, based on the benefits of easy automation. Using the Puppet modules from Enterprise Modules, for example, we help you transform your traditional platforms into agile, cloud-native infrastructure.

As a result, you benefit a lot longer from your investment in legacy infrastructure, as we turn it into a flexible and agile environment. Are you still convinced that a full migration to a completely new cloud-native environment is the way to go – maybe even choosing technology from a different vendor? In that case, modernising the legacy environment through easy automation buys you the extra time you need to assess and analyze your current and future needs. And while you are preparing the selection and implementation process, at least you benefit from your modernised legacy infrastructure.

Learn more about how we modernize your legacy infrastructure through easy automation. Watch our talk and demo from Puppetize Digital.

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