App Modernization and Cloud Migration for Oil and Gas Field Business System

Overview:

The client, an oil and gas company, was operating with a legacy business system that struggled to keep up with the growing complexity of field operations. Their existing system, built using ASP.NET Web Forms and MySQL, was not scalable and required manual interventions to maintain performance. To stay competitive, the client needed to modernize their application and migrate to the cloud, ensuring robust performance, scalability, and remote accessibility, especially for field personnel in offline environments.

Ivtics was entrusted with modernizing this legacy system, transitioning it to a microservices-based architecture, and migrating the entire setup to the Azure cloud. The goal was to improve operational efficiency, reduce system downtimes, and enable seamless integration between field data and business operations.

Challenges:

The key challenge was modernizing a monolithic legacy application into a microservices architecture without disrupting daily operations. The client’s field operations were heavily reliant on this system, which meant the migration had to be carefully planned to avoid downtime. Another challenge was providing offline access for field operators working in remote areas with no consistent network connection. The system needed to maintain data integrity and synchronization once the field personnel returned to online environments.

Additionally, the migration from Windows Services and MySQL to a cloud-native setup involving .NET Core REST APIs, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB required substantial data migration and re-engineering efforts, particularly in adapting the business logic to a microservices architecture.

Solution:

Ivtics successfully modernized the application by adopting a microservices architecture, applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and Test-Driven Development (TDD) principles to ensure maintainability and scalability. The legacy system was broken down into loosely coupled services, improving both performance and flexibility.

The Blazor Server and Blazor WASM (WebAssembly) components were used to overhaul the user interface, allowing for real-time data access and processing. Blazor WASM ensured offline access, enabling field operators to collect and process data in remote areas and automatically synchronize with the cloud once a stable connection was available.

The backend services were rewritten using .NET Core REST APIs, with PostgreSQL and MongoDB handling the relational and unstructured data, respectively. Hosted services were deployed to manage background tasks, such as data synchronization and automated reporting.

The entire system was migrated to Azure, leveraging the cloud platform’s scalability, security, and redundancy. Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) pipelines were established using Azure DevOps, while Terraform was used for Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to automate and manage the Azure cloud infrastructure.

Key Features:

• Microservices Architecture: Increased scalability and flexibility with modular services
• Offline Access: Field operators could continue work offline using Blazor WASM, with automatic data synchronization
• Cloud Migration: Leveraged Azure cloud for scalable and secure infrastructure
• Real-time Data Processing: Enabled real-time data access and reporting through Blazor Server
• DevOps & Automation: Implemented CI/CD with Azure DevOps and Terraform for infrastructure automation

Results:

The modernization and cloud migration resulted in a highly scalable and efficient system that reduced downtime by over 60%. Field operations became more seamless, with offline access dramatically improving the ability to work in remote areas. The migration to Azure enhanced security, performance, and uptime while significantly reducing infrastructure costs. Additionally, the adoption of DevOps practices enabled faster feature releases and bug fixes, contributing to overall improved operational efficiency.