Legacy applications migration on to cloud

Cloud computing is defined as a type of computing that depends on sharing computing resources rather than using local computer resources. What makes this technology different than traditional client-server architecture is that the resources are shared through virtualized machines. This technology is becoming popular as a number advantages such as high scalability and reduced IT costs attract potential users. On the other hand, some challenges, such as legacy applications to be moved to cloud computing environment, are to be discussed. In this work, possible stages to manage and undertake such a migration are attempted to be explored and described. The stages are proposed not only to describe the necessary steps but also to itemize related constraints for each level of migration. Main limitations include plans for migration hence a comprehensive/complete work-flow targeting organization specific requirements such as financial, cultural and legislative parameters remains as a future research avenue. Nevertheless, main benefit of this work is to assist organizations who need to migrate legacy applications onto cloud environment is supported as the work-flow is argued be used as a base to determine the constraints/issues that may arise at the stages.