Modernizing operations

Analyze existing applications

Summary

• Introduction to IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor
• Install IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor
• Scan a WebSphere Environment or use the pre-provided file
• Download the Data Collector
• Run the Data Collector
• Upload the Data Collector results
• Analyze the Recommendations

Introduction to IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor

• Identify the Java EE programming models in an app
• Determine the complexity of apps by reviewing a high-level inventory of the content and structure of each app
• Highlight the Java EE programming model and WebSphere API differences between the profile types
• Learn any Java EE specification implementation differences that might affect the app

Note

Install IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor

Scan a WebSphere Environment or use the pre-provided file

Download the Data Collector

1. Open IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor in a browser and click the button to create a new Workspace

   

2. Enter a Workspace name such as CustomerOrderServices and click Next

   

3. Enter a Collection name such as WAS855_AppSrv01 and click Let’s go

   

4. When the No recommendations available page is displayed, click the Data Collector button

   

5. When the Data Collector page is displayed, select the Source Operating System for your environment and click the Download button to download the Data Collector.

   

   This results in a file with a name similar to transformationadvisor-Linux_CustomerOrderServices_WAS855_AppSrv01.tgz being downloaded.

Run the Data Collector

1. Navigate to the directory you uploaded the transformationadvisor-Linux_CustomerOrderServices_WAS855_AppSrv01.tgz file to and issue the following commands to extract the Data Collector:

   mkdir datacollector
   cd datacollector
   mv transformationadvisor-Linux_CustomerOrderServices_WAS855_AppSrv01.tgz .
   tar -zxvf transformationadvisor-Linux_CustomerOrderServices_WAS855_AppSrv01.tgz
   cd transformationadvisor-*
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2. It is necessary to modify the scan performed by the Data Collector to include the org.pwte package as the Data Collector doesn’t scan org.* packages by default. Open the conf/customCmd.properties file and modify it as shown below:

   scan_opt=--excludePackages=ch.qos,com.fasterxml,com.ibm,com.informix,com.lowagie,com.mchange,com.meterware,com.microsoft,com.sun,com.sybase,freemarker,groovy,java,javax,net,oracle,sqlj,sun,twitter4j,_ibmjsp --includePackages=org.pwte
   #java_opt=-Xmx2g
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3. The following command assumes that WebSphere Application Server v855 is installed to /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer855 with a profile named AppSrv01 and that the administration user is wasadmin with a password of wasadmin. Modify and issue the following command as necessary to execute the Data Collector against the WebSphere environment:

   ./bin/transformationadvisor -w /opt/IBM/WebSphere/AppServer855 -p AppSrv01 wasadmin wasadmin
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4. When prompted, accept the license agreement. The Data Collection process will now start and will analyze all of the applications installed in the WebSphere Application Server environment and will also collect the related Java EE artifacts such as Data Sources and JMS definitions.

5. When the analysis is complete, the Data Collector will attempt to upload the collection results to IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor. If this is successful, you can skip to the Analyze the Recommendations section. If not, you will receive an error at the end of Data Collection and will find a file named AppSrv01.zip in your current directory as shown below.

   ~/datacollector/transformationadvisor-1.9.6# ls -la *.zip
   -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 625493 Jun 12 12:58 AppSrv01.zip
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   Download this Data Collector Results zip file ready for uploading to IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor in the next section

Upload the Data Collector results

1. In the IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor web browser session, click the Recomendations link in the top left corner and then click the Upload data button as shown below

   

2. When the Upload data dialog is displayed, use the Drop or Add File button to select the Data Collector Results zip file that was downloaded in the previous section. Click Upload

   

   After a few moments the upload of the data collector results will be completed.

Analyze the Recommendations

1. The default recommendations are based on a target of Compatible Liberty runtimes. In this scenario the desired target runtime is WebSphere traditional. Use the Migration target on Cloud Pak for Apps drop down to select WebSphere traditional as shown below.

   

2. The Data Collector analyzed all of the applications running on the traditional WebSphere profile and displays a row in the chart for each application.

   

   In the case of the CustomerOrderServicesApp.ear application, IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor has determined that the migration to WebSphere traditional is of Simple complexity and that there are four Suggested issues that have been detected. Click on the CustomerOrderServicesApp.ear application name to see more information.

3. Review the analysis results and scroll down to the Issue details section and the Additional information. Note that IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor has detected that there are issues with JPA. In this case it determined to use a non-default setting to avoid an issue where the second-level cache and the JPA configuration properties would need to be migrated. There is also a JAX-RS suggestion to use a non-default setting. If not using the non-default settings there would be changes required with JAX-RS (to handle missing Apache and Wink packages). These two issues are related to a decision that was taken by IBM to allow WebSphere Application Server V9 to run in either JPA 2.0 or JPA 2.1 mode as described here and in either JAX-RS 2.0 or JAX-RS 1.1 mode as described here. Transformation Advisor will make the needed changes for you in order to run in JPA 2.1 mode and JAX-RS 2.0 mode. The application can run in JPA 2.0 mode and JAX-RS 1.1 mode with no changes by the user due to the automated changes Transformation Advisor makes.

   

4. In order to review the IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor results in more detail, scroll to the bottom of the analysis page and click on the Analysis Report link

   

5. When the warning dialog is displayed, click OK

   

6. The Detailed Migration Analysis Report will be displayed which show the results of the migration rules that were executed by the Data Collector and returned results. Scroll down to the Warning Rules section and click on the Show rule help link for each of the results. Review the recommendations.

   

Final Analysis