This document discusses porting a 100k line Java application called Portofino to run on Google App Engine (GAE). It describes some of the main difficulties in porting to GAE including limitations of core platforms, startup time constraints, and sandbox limits. It outlines changes made such as using Cloud SQL instead of MySQL, the User API for authentication, and the Blobstore for file attachments. While some services like Datastore and Images were not used, Task Queues and Memcached could provide future benefits. Overall porting to GAE required architectural changes but gained the advantages of scalability and integration with Google services.

1. 2013.10.09 DevFest Lombardia 2013 @ Milano
How to put 100k lines of code in the (Google) cloud:
storms and rainbows
carlo.bonamico@nispro.it
paolo.predonzani@manydesigns.com

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3. What are the most common keywords for job ads?
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4. IaaS (Servers, storage, etc)
Developers
PaaS (Architecture stacks,
cloud services)
Developers/
Sys-admins
SaaS (Cloud applications)
End-users
SaaS vs PaaS vs IaaS
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5. PaaS boundaries
SaaS (Cloud applications)
Applications
Application platforms
PaaS (Stack applicativi,
cloud services)
Pre-configured packages /
architectural stacks
IaaS (Server, storage, ecc)
O.S., packages to be chosen
and configured
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6. The PaaS service “cloud”
SaaS
PaaS
IaaS
and many more...
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7. Who is using Google AppEngine and PaaS?
SaaS
Startups
Services in
marketplaces and
social network
eco-systems
IT departments
Cost savings,
scalability
Integration
(Gmail, Drive, etc)
Private cloud
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8. GAE in private cloud
TCK (Test Compatibility Kit)
Google
CapeDwarf
Google AppEngine
API su JBoss AS7
JBoss
RedHat OpenShift
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9. GAE architecture
Admin & accounting
Webapp
Datastore
Requests
Load balancers
Blobstore
Webapp
Webapp
Fetch API
Email
Search
Webapp
Images
Capabilities
Webapp
...
Dynamic instances
User API
...
Services
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10. Development vs deployment environments
Deploy
Eclipse
IntelliJ Idea
GAE plugin (ufficiale)
GAE plugin
Develop
GAE SDK
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11. Pros and cons: a matter of design priorities
Open vs proprietary
Scalability
Standards & compatibility
Reliability
Platform independence
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12. Portofino: project overview
Name: Portofino
Type: Enterprise Application Platform
License: LGPL
Maintainer: ManyDesigns srl
Language: Java, Groovy, jsp
Stable version: 4.0.10
Development version: 4.1.beta5
Community members:
~100 on English mailing list
~60 on Italian mailing list
Total downloads: 35k
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13. Portofino: what is it for?
Quickly assemble applications using:
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14. Portofino-based real-life applications
Recruiting and
bid management
Project management
CRM
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15. Portofino: a web-based development platform
The developer can edit db metadata,
create and configure pages,
set security, and edit Groovy,
all via web
An application wizard allows to
connect to an existing database in
30 seconds...
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16. Porting P4 to GAE: main difficulties
Versions of core platforms and API:
Java 5 vs 6 vs 7
Servlet API 2.5 vs 3.0
Startup time:
Every request must complete in 60s
The first request includes the instance startup delay
Sandbox limits:
No java.awt.*
No threads
Readonly file-system
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17. Porting P4 to GAE: what we have changed (1)
Java 5 -> Java 6 (with GAE <= 1.7.7.1)
Oracle/Postgresql/MS SQLServer -> forget it!
MySQL -> Google Cloud SQL
Authentication -> User API
Temporary files -> File Service
Scheduling: Quartz (internal) -> cron (external)
Charting: JFreeChart -> HTML 5/JS/SVG (client-side)
Pdf: iText -> PDFJet
Planned
Planned ?
Blobs: file -> Blobstore
Planned
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18. Porting P4 to GAE: what we have changed (2)
Wizard, admin, online configuration -> only in development
Startup time reduction! -> modularization
optional features disabled
Object in session -> Serializable
Email: local queue -> direct using java.mail
Minor differences between MySQL and Cloud SQL
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19. GAE: what we have used
Java (and indirectly Groovy)
Cloud SQL: as a relational DB
User API: user info, login/logout links
File Service: temporary files
URL Fetch API: transparent through java.net.*
Blob Store: for attachments
Planned
Task Queue & backends: useful for pdf generations, batch, etc
Memcached: cache for hibernate and HTML
Planned
Planned
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20. GAE: what we haven’t used
Datastore: interesting using JPA or JDO but the migration from
Hibernate is expensive
Images: not applicable but pdf support would be nice
Python and other languages
Capabilities API: service availability
Channel API: “push” communications
Multitenancy
Search
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21. Conclusions
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22. References
Google AppEngine:
https://developers.google.com/appengine/
https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/java/
CapeDwarf:
http://www.jboss.org/capedwarf
Portofino:
http://www.manydesigns.com/
https://sourceforge.net/projects/portofino/
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23. Thank you!
Carlo Bonamico
Paolo Predonzani
Solution Architect & Trainer
@carlobonamico
carlo.bonamico@nispro.it
MANYDESIGNS srl founder
@manydesigns
paolo.predonzani@manydesigns.com
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