Migration Toolkit for Application Source overview

The IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Migration Toolkit provides a rich set of tools that help you migrate applications from third-party application servers, between versions of WebSphere Application Server, to WebSphere Application Server Liberty, and to cloud platforms such as Liberty for Java on IBM Cloud.

All of the Eclipse-based source scanning tools are combined into one update site where you can easily install the individual tools that you need.

  • Cloud Migration Tool
  • WebSphere Version to Version Application Migration Tool
  • Apache Tomcat to Liberty Configuration Migration Tool
  • Apache Tomcat to WebSphere Application Migration Tool
  • JBoss to WebSphere Application Migration Tool
  • Oracle to WebSphere Application Migration Tool
  • WebLogic to WebSphere Application Migration Tool

This document explains how to install, configure, and use the migration tools within a developer's environment.

The application migration tools are based on IBM Rational® Software Analyzer, which provides a single solution to identify, analyze, and optimize the application health. The tools use the scanning capabilities of Rational Software Analyzer to look for specific constructs unique to the particular application being migrated. The tools then provide a way to review and change that data so that the application can run on WebSphere Application Server.

Cloud migration tool

If you are moving an application to a cloud platform, the Cloud Migration Tool offers additional advice, suggestions, and best practices to ensure that the application runs correctly in those environments.

You can use this tool in combination with the version-to-version tool and the third-party tools to help move your applications from WebSphere Application Server traditional or Liberty, Apache Tomcat Server, JBoss Application Server, Oracle Application Server, or Oracle WebLogic Server to cloud runtime environments such as IBM Cloud Runtimes (Cloud Foundry PaaS), IBM Cloud Kubernetes Service (Docker), Virtual machines (IBM Cloud), and Liberty running on third-party PaaS runtime environments.

WebSphere Version to Version Application Migration Tool

The WebSphere Version to Version Application Migration Tool assists in migrating application source code from older versions of WebSphere Application Server to WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5.5 and 9.0. It also helps you quickly and easily evaluate WebSphere Application Server traditional applications for their readiness to run on Liberty or Liberty Core in both cloud and on-premises environments. For information about how to generate this report, see Application Technology Evaluation Report in the Migration Toolkit for Application Source.

The overall application migration process between versions of WebSphere Application Server involves a series of steps:

  1. Assess the migration
  2. Plan the work needed to migrate
  3. Migrate and develop application code
  4. Migrate the runtime configuration
  5. Test applications with the new server configuration
  6. Put the new server into production

The tool analyzes your application source code and highlights Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) programming model and WebSphere API differences between traditional WebSphere Application Server versions and between the traditional and Liberty servers. Based on this analysis, the tool offers advice and potential solutions to assess the ease of moving applications. It also informs you of Java EE specification implementation differences that could affect your applications.

There are a number of issues that can affect code migration and development when moving between WebSphere Application Server releases. These issues include:

  • Changes to the Java™ Runtime Environment (JRE) encountered in Java SE 5, 6, 7 and 8
  • Removal of previously deprecated features
  • Behavior changes in the product APIs
  • Changes resulting from Java EE specification clarifications
  • Deprecated features
  • WebSphere APIs not available on Liberty
  • Optional Java EE technologies not available on Liberty
  • Differences in technology implementations
  • Java EE 7 differences

The tool supports migrating from the following versions:

  • WebSphere Application Server V5.1
  • WebSphere Application Server V6.0
  • WebSphere Application Server V6.1
  • WebSphere Application Server V7.0
  • WebSphere Application Server V8.0
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5.5
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V9.0
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core
The tool supports migrating to the following versions:
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5.5
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V9.0
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core

Third-party application migration tools

The application migration tools flag known differences between applications hosted on Oracle WebLogic Server, JBoss Application Server, Oracle Application Server, or Apache Tomcat and those hosted on WebSphere Application Server. In many cases, the tools can automatically convert the different parts to be compatible with WebSphere Application Server. If the tools cannot fix the difference, the file in question is flagged to identify where design changes are needed. The tools support:

  • Migrating applications to WebSphere Application Server Version 8.5.5 or 9.0
  • Migrating WebLogic Server Java, JSP, and class path artifacts (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating WebLogic Server deployment descriptors (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating JBoss Application Server Java and class path artifacts (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating JBoss Application Server deployment descriptors (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating Oracle Application Server Java and JSP artifacts (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating Oracle Application Server deployment descriptors (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating Apache Tomcat Java and JSP artifacts (Java EE 5 and prior versions)
  • Migrating Apache Tomcat Context XML information contained in the application
  • Migrating from Apache Tomcat 6.0 or 7.0
  • Migrating from Java SE 1.4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 11 to either Java 6, 7, 8, 11, or 12.

Tomcat Configuration Migration Tool

The Configuration Migration Tool helps you move server and application configuration to WebSphere Application Server Liberty by automatically migrating portions of the configuration. The tool supports:

  • Migrating from Apache Tomcat 6.0 or 7.0
  • Migrating to Liberty
  • Migrating Apache Tomcat context, server, and web XML information contained in the server
  • Migrating Apache Tomcat context and web XML information contained in the application

Migration Toolkit for Application Binaries

With the Migration Toolkit for Application Binaries, you can produce migration reports and configuration from the command line using the application archives and class files without the need for source code. This tool highlights the Java SE differences, deprecations and removals, Java EE programming model differences, and WebSphere API differences between traditional WebSphere from V6.1 to V9.0 and between traditional WebSphere and Liberty servers. It also supports the cloud migration scenarios and includes a module-based cloud connectivity summary.

The binary scan tool supports migrating from the following versions:

  • WebSphere Application Server V6.1
  • WebSphere Application Server V7.0
  • WebSphere Application Server V8.0
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5.5
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V9.0
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core
It supports migrating to the following versions:
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V8.5.5
  • WebSphere Application Server traditional V9.0
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty
  • WebSphere Application Server Liberty Core
  • Open Liberty

Download the Migration Toolkit for Application Binaries.

Transformation Advisor

Can be used to scan WebSphere, WebLogic, JBoss and Apache Tomcat deployments to assess all applications and provide detailed information including the effort required for modernizing your applications.

The IBM Cloud Transformation Advisor is recommended to produce a full view of your application estate since it includes more comprehensive application and configuration analysis, provides important planning information, and generates customized assets and recommendations for cloud environments.

Additional Resources

The WebSphere Migration Knowledge Collection: Migrating to Liberty web page provides an overview of all the tools, videos, and resource links.

The WebSphere Migration Knowledge Collection: Getting Started web page provides information on all aspects of WebSphere Application Server migration.

For comprehensive information on WebSphere Application Server migration topics, including examples of using the migration toolkit, see the WebSphere Application Server V8.5 Migration Guide.