P3/COBOL for Cloud
Cloud ready with P3/COBOL for Cloud
Ready for the future: into the Cloud with COBOL?
To answer this question, many others need to be considered. They include:
- If I move to the Cloud with COBOL, do I have to rewrite my application?
- Does the Cloud only work with modern programming languages like JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust or Java?
- Can I even run a COBOL container in the Cloud?
- Is my COBOL application scalable?
- Are my transactions secure?
- Am I able to re-use parts of my COBOL application in a modern web server?
Yes! P3/COBOL makes all this possible!
Below, we look at a few related topics:
- P3/COBOL for Cloud: Java EE & Spring Boot
- P3/COBOL for Cloud: Docker, Podman and Co.
- P3/COBOL for Cloud: Gradle, Maven and a little bit of ANT
- P3/COBOL for Cloud: Batch Server
The framework underpinning an Enterprise application is key for all of this, which makes it important to ask: am I able to use my existing COBOL application, and specifically the business core, in a modern framework?
To explore this, we first take a look at P3/COBOL in the context of Java EE and Spring Boot, followed by container based deployment (for instance, Docker). We also consider the development flow.
P3/COBOL for Cloud: Java EE & Spring Boot
Today, development of modern applications following a RestAPI or MVC principle uses Java EE or Spring Boot. While that leads to changes in interfaces compared to legacy architecture, it leaves the business core untouched.
P3/COBOL for Cloud simply takes the COBOL business core and integrates it into the new Java architecture. Java-typical interfaces allow uninterrupted and continued use of COBOL programmes in Java.
Transferring parameters to the COBOL programme happens as if it were Java:
- Client call via RestAPI
- Transfer in JSON format
- Dto-mapping via Getter- or Setter methods (from JSON object to Java object within COBOL language structures)
- Transfer to the COBOL program (Java)
This means: reliable business logic developed, tried and tested over decades, with continued significant business value, and written in COBOL, needs no re-invention or re-development.
The chosen Java framework and flexible configuration within P3/COBOL for Cloud guarantee transaction safety.
It only takes a few simple steps to transfer COBOL to the Cloud.
P3/COBOL for Cloud: Docker, Podman and Co.
Over recent years, productive environments – where software is run – have changed. For one, flexible containers are increasingly taking over the functions and tasks of unwieldy virtual machines.
And when it comes to orchestrating containers, Kubernetes is often the go-to solution. But, there are alternatives:
- Docker Swarm (Docker proprietary tool for cluster orchestration)
- Apache Mesos (Apache solution for large systems)
- AWS Fargate
- OpenShift (RedHat, capable of roll outs on various Cloud environments)
- Rancher (based on Kubernetes: useful to manage multiple Kubernetes clusters through one central interface)
- Nomad (HashiCorp solution which can be used together with Kubernetes, or in isolation)
All these solutions have one common denominator: they provide deployable software in a container.
P3/COBOL for Cloud transfers COBOL applications to Java. Packaging takes place through a Java typical JAR archive.
As explained in the above Java EE and Spring Boot example, the entire application is packaged in a container image and deployed.
And with that, every COBOL application is container ready.
P3/COBOL for Cloud: Gradle, Maven and a bit of ANT in between
Thanks to P3/COBOL Eclipse Plugin, developers who use Eclipse as development platform can combine both worlds: Java development and COBOL development with just one developer tool.
P3/COBOL integration into familiar and modern build and deploy processes with Maven and Gradle is easy:
dependencies {
implementation('org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web')
implementation('com.turrettech:p3cobol:8.2.1')
implementation files('~/easidev/demos/cobolCalcService/bin-cobol')
}
This example, using Gradle, shows how easy it is to integrate P3/COBOL in a modern build system.
Gradle or Maven offer everything needed for build, test and deploy. As a result, COBOL and Java applications can be automated together, from development to production, through CI/CD pipelines (continuous integration / continuous delivery).
With P3/COBOL for Cloud, COBOL applications are CI/CD ready.
See further information on P3/COBOL!
