Host
Reliable foundations
The first stage of Move is Host. Whether rehosting to Linux, Windows, or Cloud, or undertaking a deeper migration of your solution stack, Host creates a stable and predictable foundation. The objective is continuity: minimize change, reduce risk, and ensure your applications run smoothly on their new environment — transparent for users, and reassuring for IT leaders.
Different Paths to Hosting
Every hosting project begins with a few key questions:
- What platform is the application running on today?
- Does the current architecture come from a mainframe or from an open system?
- Can the existing solution stack be replicated as-is on the target?
- Should the migration reproduce the current environment, or establish a new stack?
The answers drive the project in two main directions:
Rehosting
The lowest-cost and lowest-risk path. Applications are moved with minimal changes, reducing development, documentation, and training effort. Rehosting is designed to be transparent for end-users and stable for IT.
Extended Migration
A more ambitious path that may replace or modernize certain components of the solution stack. Depending on the profile of the application, this could mean simplifying transaction management, consolidating file and database layers, or preparing the architecture for modular or service-oriented approaches.
A Structured Methodology: The Migration Protocol
To secure this critical stage, CobolCloud applies its Migration Protocol - a structured framework that evaluates application scope, analyzes technical constraints, identifies compatibility points, and guides recompilation and transition. This step-by-step methodology ensures migrations are predictable, controlled, and transparent, giving organizations a clear view of risks and required adaptations before execution.
Compatibility and Beyond
CobolCloud is engineered for broad compatibility across COBOL dialects and traditional enterprise components such as databases, file systems, and transaction managers.
But compatibility does not stop at legacy stacks. Thanks to its multi-directional API, CobolCloud also integrates with:
- Web services and RESTful APIs.
- Event-driven and streaming platforms.
- Container orchestration frameworks (Kubernetes, OpenShift).
- CI/CD pipelines and DevOps toolchains.
- Cloud-native services that continue to evolve.
And if the technologies in mind are not listed here, CobolCloud's modular design ensures they can be taken into account - preserving continuity while embracing innovation.
Testing and Validation
To support this process, CobolCloud provides access to a containerized environment where applications can be compiled, executed, and tested with the CobolCloud compiler and runtime. This makes it possible to refine the solution stack, test migration scenarios safely, and confirm successful operation on the chosen target platform - whether Cloud, Linux, or Windows.
Host is the safeguard stage: risk reduced, costs known, and continuity preserved. It is the prerequisite to any future Rethink and the guarantee that COBOL applications are immediately ready to Operate in modern environments. With Host, organizations secure not only a migration, but a foundation for decades of stability and evolution.
Explore Further
Talk to a CobolCloud expert — and explore how Move lets you Host, Rethink, and Operate your systems on your own terms.