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The Strangler Fig Pattern is a software design strategy for modernizing legacy systems by gradually replacing them with new components over time. It involves assessing the existing system, identifying boundaries for replacement, incrementally developing new components, ensuring integration, and eventually decommissioning the old system. This approach minimizes disruption and risk while allowing organizations to prioritize critical areas for modernization.

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42 views1 page

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The Strangler Fig Pattern is a software design strategy for modernizing legacy systems by gradually replacing them with new components over time. It involves assessing the existing system, identifying boundaries for replacement, incrementally developing new components, ensuring integration, and eventually decommissioning the old system. This approach minimizes disruption and risk while allowing organizations to prioritize critical areas for modernization.

Uploaded by

neptyki
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Strangler Fig Pattern is a software design and refactoring strategy used in the

context of legacy system modernization and migration. It's named after the
strangler fig, a type of tree that grows on other trees, eventually enveloping and
replacing them. Similarly, the pattern involves gradually replacing or "strangling"
an existing legacy system with a new one over time.

Here's how the Strangler Fig Pattern typically works:

1. **Assessment**: First, you assess the existing legacy system and identify its
pain points, shortcomings, and areas that need improvement. You also define your
goals for the modernization effort.

2. **Identify Boundaries**: You identify boundaries within the legacy system, which
could be based on modules, components, or functionalities. These boundaries are
where you'll start introducing the new system.

3. **Incremental Replacement**: Instead of rebuilding the entire system from


scratch, you incrementally develop new components, modules, or services to replace
the corresponding parts of the legacy system. These new components are typically
built using modern technologies, frameworks, and best practices.

4. **Integration**: As you create new components, you need to ensure they can
seamlessly integrate with the existing legacy system. This might involve building
bridges, adapters, or APIs to facilitate communication between the old and new
parts.

5. **Gradual Migration**: Over time, you continue to replace more and more of the
legacy system's components with their modern counterparts. This gradual migration
allows you to minimize disruption to the business while ensuring that each new
component is thoroughly tested and reliable.

6. **Decommissioning**: Once all critical functionalities have been migrated to the


new system, and the legacy system is no longer needed, you can decommission the old
system entirely.

The Strangler Fig Pattern is valuable because it allows organizations to modernize


their systems without the risks and costs associated with a complete system
rewrite. It also provides the flexibility to prioritize the most critical and
problematic parts of the legacy system for replacement while leaving less critical
parts untouched until later.

By following this pattern, organizations can modernize their systems incrementally,


reduce downtime, lower risk, and provide value to the business continuously. It
aligns with the principles of agile development and is often used in conjunction
with practices like microservices architecture and DevOps.

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