Analyze and visualize software architecture in CAST Imaging
Created by Arpita Sinha (Cast Software)
Environment: Production | Technologies: Modernization | Workload: All other workloads |
Summary
You can use CAST Imaging to navigate a complex software system visually, perform a precise analysis of the software structure, and make decisions about your application’s architecture, especially for modernization purposes. This pattern describes the steps for onboarding source code to CAST Application Intelligence Platform (CAST AIP) through CAST AIP Console to generate application data. The data is then published to CAST Imaging, where you can visualize and navigate your application architecture layer by layer.
Prerequisites and limitations
Prerequisites
An active AWS account.
An Amazon Machine Image (AMI) for Microsoft Windows Server Base or Core (see Windows AMIs
) for CAST Imaging on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) with 32 GB RAM and 100 GB SSD. A CAST Extend account
for accessing downloads. CAST AIP and CAST Imaging license keys. You can obtain these by contacting CAST at c.yarlagadda@castsoftware.com.
The complete source code of the application you want to analyze, in extracted and compressed (.zip) format.
Compliance with AIP Console deployment prerequisites
.
Limitations
The CAST Web installer is available only for the Microsoft Windows operating system, and installs CAST AIP version 8.3.25 or later.
CAST Extend
doesn’t support Internet Explorer.
Product versions
The CAST Web Installer (available from CAST Extend
) automatically downloads the latest version of CAST AIP Core, CAST Console, CAST Storage Service, and CAST Imaging.
Architecture
The following workflow illustrates the onboarding of application source code to CAST AIP through AIP Console at a high level. CAST AIP generates application source code metadata by reverse-engineering front-end, middleware, and back-end code. The application data that is generated by CAST AIP is automatically imported into CAST Imaging for investigation purposes.
Here’s a snapshot of how this process works in AIP Console and CAST Imaging.
Tools
CAST Web Installer – Installs all required software in one step, on a single machine, with minimum configuration required.
Epics
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Download the CAST Web Installer. | Log in to CAST Extend | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Run the installer. | The CAST Web Installer (CASTWebInstaller.exe) installs the following components: CAST AIP Core, AIP Console and AIP Node package, CAST Storage Service for Windows (customized PostgreSQL RDBMS), and CAST Imaging for Windows. When the CAST Web Installer finishes the installation, a Readme window displays a summary of the installation. | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Configure CAST AIP Console to publish results into CAST Imaging. | Log in to AIP Console | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Open the AIP Console home page. | Open the AIP Console home page at http://<server>:8081/ui/index.html, and enter your CAST credentials. For help, see the Login | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Prepare your source code. | Before you begin the onboarding process, make sure that your source code is prepared in appropriate format in a single .zip file. | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Add a new application in AIP Console. | Choose Add application, enter the application name, and then choose Add. You can see the progress of each step in AIP Console. For details, see the Add a new application | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Open the Delivery wizard. | Find the application that you created, and then choose Add version. | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Add the source code. | Drag and drop the source code (.zip file) into the wizard, or choose the upload cloud icon to add a file by using the "open file" method. | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Start the analysis process. | In the Delivery wizard, provide the version details and specify the configuration options as explained in the Standard onboarding | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Check status and logs | When all actions have been completed, you should check the Progress window for a "success" message. You can check the individual logs for all the actions that have been performed immediately after they have completed. To check the logs, you can click the View log option in the Progress window. | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Check applicaion details | Use the Application details panel | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Verify and access CAST Imaging | In the Application Management screen of AIP Console, verify that the version status of your application is Imaging processed | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Log in to CAST Imaging. | Open http://localhost:8083, enter your CAST administrator credentials, and select your application. For help, see the Login | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Set up the imaging environment. | Configure the CAST Imaging environment through Admin Center to manage application data, user permissions, and other preferences. For more information, see the Configuration options | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Verify that the application is available in CAST Imaging. | Open the Admin Center - Application management panel | |
| Explore CAST Imaging features. | Use the Help icon to display the CAST Imaging Helper. This option provides a tutorial that helps you get started viewing your software architecture in CAST Imaging. For more information about these features, see the CAST Imaging user guide | Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
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