Introduction

Imagine you’ve meticulously restored a classic car, a vintage COBOL application humming with decades of business logic. Now, you want to showcase it, not in a dusty garage, but on a modern racetrack – the cloud. But which racetrack (cloud provider) is best suited for your newly modernized machine? This chapter is your pit crew guide. We’ll explore the major cloud platforms and help you make the right choice for integrating your modernized COBOL systems, considering everything from cost and performance to security and avoiding vendor lock-in. Think of it as choosing the perfect tires and fuel for your race – get it right, and you’ll be cruising to victory!

Cloud Integration: An Overview

Welcome to cloud integration! Now that your COBOL application is modernized, moving it to the cloud unlocks its full potential. This section introduces cloud integration and explains why choosing the right platform is crucial for success. It also highlights the importance of aligning your cloud strategy with your AI-powered modernization efforts, as discussed in Chapter 6.

We’ll cover the key benefits of cloud integration, essential considerations for selecting a cloud platform, an overview of major cloud providers, and the importance of cloud-native principles. Let’s get started!

Benefits of Cloud Integration for Modernized COBOL Applications

Why move your modernized COBOL applications to the cloud? The cloud offers significant advantages in performance, scalability, and cost. Here are some key benefits:

• Scalability and Elasticity: The cloud lets you dynamically adjust resources based on demand, handling peak loads without performance degradation. This avoids the time and expense of provisioning additional hardware in a traditional environment. See Chapter 7 for more on rearchitecting for scalability.
• Cost Optimization: Cloud providers use various pricing models, allowing you to optimize costs based on your usage patterns. This can significantly reduce costs compared to on-premises infrastructure. Explore options like pay-as-you-go, spot instances/preemptible VMs (for fault-tolerant workloads), savings plans/committed use discounts (for sustained usage), and container/serverless pricing models. FinOps principles, discussed later in this section, provide a framework for ongoing cost management.
• Improved Performance and Availability: Cloud providers invest in robust infrastructure with geographically distributed data centers. This reduces latency and provides redundancy, improving application performance and user experience. Cloud-native observability tools, discussed below, are essential for monitoring and maintaining performance.
• Enhanced Security: Cloud providers offer a range of security services to protect your infrastructure and data, but security is a shared responsibility. You are responsible for securing your applications and data in the cloud. Leverage services like Identity and Access Management (IAM), Key Management Services (KMS), Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), and Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) tools. Consider adopting a Zero Trust architecture. See Chapter 14 for a discussion of security considerations.
• Access to Modern Services: The cloud provides access to services like AI/ML (see Chapter 6), data analytics, and serverless computing. These can enhance your COBOL applications with new capabilities. For example, use AI/ML to analyze COBOL transaction data and identify fraud or predict resource needs. Serverless functions can be used to create API endpoints or process events triggered by COBOL applications.

Key Considerations for Cloud Platform Selection

Choosing the right cloud platform is critical for your modernization project’s success. Consider these factors:

• Cost: Compare pricing models carefully, considering compute, storage, network, and data transfer costs. Leverage cost optimization strategies like savings plans/committed use discounts and spot instances/preemptible VMs. Implement a FinOps strategy for ongoing cost monitoring and optimization. See Chapter 5 for more on building your modernization roadmap.
• Performance: Evaluate performance for COBOL workloads, considering CPU, memory, and storage. Benchmark instance types to find the best fit for your modernized COBOL application’s transaction processing needs. Consider the performance implications of data transfer between COBOL applications and cloud-based AI/ML services.
• Security: Assess security features and compliance certifications (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA). Ensure the provider meets your organization’s security requirements, including data encryption, access control, and network security. Understand the shared responsibility model and implement appropriate security controls.
• Integration Capabilities: Ensure seamless integration with existing systems, considering API compatibility, data integration, and support for open standards. Integrate your modernized COBOL applications with both legacy data sources and new cloud services. Consider using API gateways and message queues for integration.
• Vendor Lock-in: Understand the risks of being tied to a specific provider. Mitigate lock-in using containerization and infrastructure-as-code (IaC) tools like Terraform, AWS CloudFormation, Azure Resource Manager, or Google Cloud Deployment Manager for data portability and API compatibility. IaC also enables version control, repeatability, and automated deployments.
• Geographic Location: Ensure compliance with regional laws and data sovereignty requirements, especially for organizations operating in multiple countries. Choose a provider with data centers in the required regions.