Migrating enterprise applications to the cloud: methodology and evaluation

Migrating existing on-premise applications to the cloud is a complex and multi-dimensional task and may require adapting the applications themselves significantly. For example, when considering the migration of the database layer of an application, which provides data persistence and manipulation capabilities, it is necessary to address aspects like differences in the granularity of interactions and data confidentiality, and to enable the interaction of the application with remote data sources. In this work, we present a methodology for application migration to the cloud that takes these aspects into account. In addition, we also introduce a tool for decision support, application refactoring and data migration that assists application developers in realising this methodology. We evaluate the proposed methodology and enabling tool using a case study in collaboration with an IT enterprise.