Migration Strategies for Legacy Monolith Applications into Containerized Environments Using Docker and Node.js Frameworks

• Author(s): Ehimah Obuse ; Eseoghene Daniel Erigha ; Babawale Patrick Okare ; Abel Chukwuemeke Uzoka ; Samuel Owoade; Noah Ayanbode
• Paper ID: 1710018
• Page: 450-466
• Published Date: 05-08-2019
• Published In: Iconic Research And Engineering Journals
• Publisher: IRE Journals
• e-ISSN: 2456-8880
• Volume/Issue: Volume 3 Issue 1 July-2019

Abstract

The transition from legacy monolithic applications to modern, containerized architectures has become a strategic imperative for organizations seeking scalability, agility, and continuous delivery. This explores migration strategies for transforming legacy monoliths into containerized environments using Docker and Node.js frameworks. Monolithic applications, often built with tightly coupled components and outdated technologies, present significant challenges in terms of maintainability, scalability, and deployment complexity. As enterprises increasingly adopt DevOps practices and cloud-native platforms, containerization emerges as a vital enabler of modernization. Docker provides a lightweight, portable solution for encapsulating application components into isolated containers, enabling consistent execution across environments. Node.js, known for its non-blocking I/O and event-driven architecture, offers a performant and scalable foundation for decomposing monoliths into modular services. This presents a phased migration approach, beginning with codebase auditing and boundary identification, followed by incremental decomposition of business functions into RESTful Node.js microservices. It highlights the use of Docker for creating reproducible builds, managing dependencies, and orchestrating service components through Docker Compose and container networking. Key considerations such as data consistency, inter-service communication, security, and CI/CD integration are addressed to ensure a seamless transition. Additionally, this emphasizes best practices in testing, performance tuning, and deployment automation. Real-world challenges such as handling legacy dependencies, maintaining backward compatibility, and managing team readiness are also explored. By combining Docker’s containerization capabilities with the modular strengths of Node.js, organizations can modernize legacy systems with reduced risk and increased flexibility. This concludes by outlining future directions, including full microservices adoption, cloud orchestration with Kubernetes, and the potential integration of serverless components. This work serves as a practical guide for engineers and decision-makers aiming to drive digital transformation through strategic application modernization.

Keywords

Migration strategies, Legacy monolith applications, Containerized environments, Docker and node.js frameworks

Citations

IRE Journals:
Ehimah Obuse , Eseoghene Daniel Erigha , Babawale Patrick Okare , Abel Chukwuemeke Uzoka , Samuel Owoade; Noah Ayanbode "Migration Strategies for Legacy Monolith Applications into Containerized Environments Using Docker and Node.js Frameworks" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals Volume 3 Issue 1 2019 Page 450-466

IEEE:
Ehimah Obuse , Eseoghene Daniel Erigha , Babawale Patrick Okare , Abel Chukwuemeke Uzoka , Samuel Owoade; Noah Ayanbode "Migration Strategies for Legacy Monolith Applications into Containerized Environments Using Docker and Node.js Frameworks" Iconic Research And Engineering Journals, 3(1)