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. 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 imported into 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, CAST Console, CAST Storage Service, and CAST Imaging.
Architecture
The following architecture diagram describes the process for onboarding source code into CAST Imaging.
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 one machine, with minimum configuration required.
-
Automation tool – After analysis, exports the application data from a CAST Analysis Service schema, and imports it (in CSV format) to CAST Imaging for visualization. This tool is provided as an attachment. Follow the instructions in the next section to download and run the tool.
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 |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Log in to AIP Console. |
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. To configure options, follow
the instructions in the Add code |
Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Start the analysis process. |
In the Delivery wizard, select the Generate a snapshot check box, and then choose Finish. This will start the analysis process for the source code. The progress window in AIP Console shows each step, and displays a notification when analysis is complete. |
Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Task | Description | Skills required |
|---|---|---|
| Download the attachments. |
Download the attached automation.bat and etl_config.json files and copy them to the \ImagingSystem\imagingservice\etl-automation subfolder in the CAST Web Installer installation folder. By default, the installation path is C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller. If you want to keep the default path, copy the two files to C:\Programs\CAST\CASTWebInstaller\ImagingSystem\imagingservice\etl-automation. |
Software architects, Developers, Technical leaders |
| Run the automation tool. |
Double-click to run automation.bat. This tool will import the analyzed source code into CAST Imaging. |
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 |
| 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 |
Related resources
Attachments
