Towards a roadmap for the migration of legacy software systems to a microservice based architecture

Abstract

The migration of legacy software systems to a microservice based architecture is not a trivial task due to challenges and difficulties as reported in the literature. The concept of microservices mainly consists in software organized as a suite of small, modular, and independently deployed services that run on their own processes and communicate through well-defined, lightweight mechanisms to serve a business goal. However, the literature is still incipient in relation to step-by-step guidelines supporting practitioners to accomplish the migration from an existing, monolithic structure to a microservice based architecture. Goal: Discuss lessons learned from the migration of legacy software systems to microservices-based architecture. Method: We conducted two studies (a pilot and a case study) aiming at characterizing the relevants steps of such guidelines. Results: We report the steps and challenges observed during the migration reported in this study. Conclusion: We identify at least three main phases that drive the migration process.