It can be daunting to migrate legacy .NET applications to the cloud. In this session, see how we use Microsoft Visual Studio and the AWS Management Console to demonstrate how to containerize a legacy .NET app with a SQL backend, and then deploy with Amazon ECS. We cover the Docker build and deployment process required to containerize the application, and we use Amazon ECR to host the Docker image.

1. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Brian Lewis
Solutions Architect, Amazon Web Services
Nicki Klein
Sr. Developer Advocate − .NET, Amazon Web Services
ENT201
Containerize Legacy .NET Framework Web
Apps for Cloud Migration

2. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
The Basics: Why containers for legacy .NET apps?
Containerize a legacy ASP.NET app
Deploying a .NET app
container to Amazon
ECS
Hypervisor
Status:on
Connections Connections Connections
Network Up/NetworkDown
Amazon
ECS
AZ1 AZ2
Private Subnet
Public Subnet
Internet
Gateway
Private Subnet
Public Subnet
NAT
GATEWAY
NAT
GATEWAY
ALB
Amazon ECS Cluster
What we will cover

3. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Microsoft .NET history

4. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
AWS loves .NET
Recent AWS announcements
• AWS CodeBuild for Windows with preconfigured .NET Core – 5/25
• .NET Developer Center (aws.amazon.com/net) 7/2
• .NET Core 2.1 on Amazon Linux and Ubuntu – 7/11
• .NET Core 2.1 on Lambda – 7/9

5. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Windows deployment modes

6. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
• Smallest base layer available for Windows
• Only 64-bit applications
• No graphical applications
• Optimized for .NET Core applications
• Windows PowerShell not included by default
(as of Windows Server version 1709)
• Only PowerShell Core is available
microsoft/nanoserver

7. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
• Minimal installation of Windows Server 2016
• Windows PowerShell
• Full .NET support
• No Windows Shell Desktop
• Great for migrating existing Windows
applications to containers
microsoft/windowsservercore

8. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
.Net 4.x requires Server Core
Server 2016 version 1803 - Server Core:
•1.58GB, download size, 30% reduction from Windows Server, version 1709
•3.61GB, on disk size, 20% reduction from Windows Server, version 1709
Server version Size on
disk
Server 2016 – Server Core ~ 8 Gig
Serve 2016 version 1709 – Server Core ~4.5 Gig
Server 2016 version 1803 - Server Core: ~ 3.6 Gig

9. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Why containers for legacy .NET apps?
Operating system
utilization
Deployment /
runtime consistency
Scaling

10. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Why containers for legacy .NET apps?
Decrease the OS
count from
12 to 4 (66%)
Windows Server 2016
App Files
Bins/Libs
Processes
Windows Kernel
Host Mode
System
Processess
Container Mgmt
SVCHost
Session Mngr
LSASS
w3wp.exe
Container #1
App Files
Bins/Libs
Processes
Container #2
Windows Server 2016
App Files
Bins/Libs
Processes:
Windows Kernel
Host Mode
System
Processess
Container Mgmt
SVCHost
Session Mngr
LSASS
w3wp.exe
Container #1
App Files
Bins/Libs
Container #2
w3wp.exe
Processes:
w3wp.exe
Operating System
Utilization CPU: 67% Memory: 85%
CPU: 72% Memory: 78%
CPU: 63% Memory: 81%
CPU: 59% Memory: 80%
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
Hypervisor
Guest OS Guest OSGuest OS
App #1 App #2 App #3
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
Hypervisor
Guest OS Guest OSGuest OS
App #1 App #2 App #3
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
Hypervisor
Guest OS Guest OSGuest OS
App #1 App #2 App #3
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
Hypervisor
Guest OS Guest OSGuest OS
App #1 App #2 App #3

11. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Deployment / runtime consistency
Dev
Windows 10
App #1
Windows Server 2016
Hypervisor
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
App #1
Windows Server 2016
Hypervisor
Statu s: on
Connection sConn ect io nsConn ect ions
Network Up /Network Do wn
App #1
Test Prod
Why containers for legacy .NET apps?

12. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Scaling
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image 3. Docker Container
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
Read-Only
FROM microsoft/windowsservercore
RUN Add-WindowsFeature Web-server
RUN Add-WindowsFeature NET-Frame...
COPY myapp /myappfiles
1. Docker File 2. Docker Image
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
3. Docker Container
Read / Write Layer
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Read-Only
Why containers for legacy .NET apps?

13. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Scaling
Read / Write Layer
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Windows Server 2016
Read / Write Layer
Windows Server 2016
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Read / Write Layer
Windows Server 2016
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Read / Write Layer
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490d 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf9d 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Read / Write Layer
Windows Server 2016
f954msx83nc85b 50 MB
k58cxbh48fj490 300 MB
akm34ks9dj5flf 500 MB
ds8fmdsf895nlks 7 GB
Read / Write Layer
Why containers for legacy .NET apps?

14. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Benefits of Windows containers
• Ease of movement (on premises or in public cloud)
• Improve operating system utilization / density
• Deployment size and speed / use of base images
• Development / deployment runtime consistency
• Server boot times under 1 second

15. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
What’s our sample .NET app?
• Sample app circa 2010
• ASP.NET MVC 1.0
• SQL Server Express LocalDB
https://github.com/kneekey23/NerdDinner
NerdDinner

16. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Microsoft SQL Server in a container
Production SQL Server container images must be pulled from the Docker Store
• docker pull microsoft/mssql-server-windows
• docker pull microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest
For persistent SQL data:
• Use data volume containers
• Store the database on a file share (SMB 3.2 suggested)
• Mount a host directory as data volume (Linux)

17. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Demo:
Containerize a legacy
ASP.NET appHypervisor
Status:on
Connections Connections Connections
Network Up/NetworkDown
Amazon
ECS

18. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Steps to containerize the legacy .NET app

19. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Demo:
Containerize a legacy
ASP.NET appHypervisor
Status:on
Connections Connections Connections
Network Up/NetworkDown
Amazon
ECS

20. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon ECS for Windows Server 2016
• Dec 5, 2017 − Windows Server containers for
production workloads!
• Amazon ECS-optimized Windows Server 2016 AMI
• Includes Docker 17.06 Enterprise Edition
• Amazon ECS agent now runs as a native Windows
service
• Windows containers Memory and CPU limit(s)
enforcement
Windows Server on Amazon ECS:

21. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

22. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon ECS for Windows Server 2016
• Reference architecture on GitHub
Step 1. Build Amazon ECS cluster
https://github.com/aws-samples/ecs-
refarch-cloudformation-windows

23. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon ECS for Windows Server 2016
Step 2. Create task definition

24. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon ECS for Windows Server 2016
• Service name
• Number of tasks
• ELB
• IAM role
Step 3.
Create service & launch

25. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon Elastic
Container Service
(Amazon ECS)AZ1 AZ2
Private Subnet
Public Subnet
Internet
Gateway
Private Subnet
Public Subnet
NAT
GATEWAY
NAT
GATEWAY
ALB
Amazon ECS Cluster
Demo:

26. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS)

27. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Next steps: After you migrate your app
Modernizing your .NET apps
• Rewriting the application is always the cleanest path
• Windows containers offer another option
Use Docker to take a feature-driven approach to breaking up the monolithic application,
splitting the functionality across multiple containers and using Docker for the plumbing. Use
.NET Core to extend the application.

28. © 2018, Amazon Web Services, Inc. or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Brian Lewis - Solutions Architect
Nicki Klein - Sr. Developer Advocate - .NET
Thank you for attending today!
Submit Session Feedback (Let us know how we did ☺)
1. Tap on the Agenda icon
2. Select the session you attended
3. Tap on Session Evaluation to submit your feedback
Code from demos:
https://github.com/kneekey23/NerdDinner