Challenges Deploying Legacy Software in the Cloud

NASA's Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC), a partnership between NASA MSFC and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, has served as a pathfinder for implementing routine DAAC operations in the Cumulus environment. NASA's Earth Science Data and Information Systems (ESDIS) project is developing Cumulus as a cloud-based data ingest, archive and distribution management system. This presentation will discuss some of the challenges encountered in porting legacy science code to the Amazon cloud, using the International Space Station Lightning Imaging Sensor (ISS LIS) product generation system as a case study.

Based on legacy code, the ISS LIS product generation system was modified to support Amazon Web Services (AWS) by re-engineering portions of the code that could be made cloud-native. The remaining science code, which has evolved over 20+ years, was encapsulated in a Docker container to reduce the amount of refactoring that would have been required to operate in the cloud environment.