How to make it easier to migrate applications to WebSphere application Server

Donald Vines & Andy hoyt:application Migration Tool How to make it easier to migrate applications to WebSphere application Server

Make application profiling and migration easier

The application Migration Tool for IBM WebSphere Application Server Migration Toolkit can help you easily migrate applications from one source application server to WebSphere Applicati On the Server V7.0. The source application server now supports WebLogic Server 8.1 and WebLogic server 9.2. The application migration plugin works on an imported EAR file. This tool scans JSPs, Java™ source code, and deployment descriptors to discover porting problems and reports them in the Eclipse IDE's Problems view. Most of the porting problems you may encounter can be determined by this tool, and in many cases the tool will provide you with a quick fix to solve them.

If you are unfamiliar with this tool, this article has an introduction to the application migration Tools feature, as well as some downloads and other information guides to help you get started.

What is this tool?

The application Migration Tool is an effort to enable IBM Rational®software Analyzer V7.1 to help migrate an application from a supported source application server to a WebSphere application server Of Rational Software Analyzer is a simple yet powerful tool that automates software analysis and delivers higher quality software. To do this, Rational Software Analyzer uses a number of rules, and it allows you to create custom rules to accommodate a variety of specific environments and purposes.

For that purpose, a custom rule for discovering code migration issues has been created, which provides a quick fix for the tools to solve many of these problems. All of these custom rules are bundled in an Eclipse 3.4.2 plug-in that you can download for free (no additional licenses are required).

The plug-in runs on the imported EAR file. It resolves Java source code, JSPs, and deployment descriptors within the Eclipse workspace and reports migration issues in the Problems view. Because the tool runs on a source file rather than a class file, you do not need to completely compile the application under WebSphere application Server before running the tool.

When the analysis is complete, right-clicking individual results in the Problems view provides you with the option to resolve the problem:

View result opens an editor that displays the source file that triggered the rule. The line that went wrong is highlighted, and the rule-breaking icon appears next to the line.

Quick Fix will perform a migration that modifies the affected Java code, JSP page, or deployment descriptor. The quick fix may change the file directly, or it will show the steps required to complete the modification.

Quick Fix Preview supports contrasting the original code and the modified code side by side before any updates actually execute.

Ignore result removes the rule from the manifest without making a file modification.

Quick fix all resolves all problems with a given rule.

Accept the quick fix, or use your own method, in which you have absolute discretion. If you don't want to do it step-by-step, you have another option: Accept all the changes. When you have completed the review of modifications, you can export the EAR file from Eclipse and deploy it to the WebSphere application Server.

This plugin is a knowledge-based migration assistant. This means that, even if the developer does not have the rich knowledge of the source application server or WebSphere application server, the migration can be performed successfully.