phenix-cruise-service
WCF cruise service on .NET Framework 4.7.2 wrapping the Traveltek cruise API for buying/selling cruise quotes, with its CruiseTravelTek SQL database project and an older cruise-website service.
Health score
0 to 100 across seven weighted factors; nothing is hidden. Green is 75 and above, amber 50 to 74, red below 50. How scoring works.
Facts
| Languages | csharp, sql |
| Frameworks | WCF, SSDT |
| Runtimes | .NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Framework 4.5.2 |
| Tests / CI | some / CI in place |
| Last commit | 2026-06-10 |
| Owner | Owner unknown (mapping to be curated) |
| Domain | Selling and quoting (system generated; curate in repo-owners.json to override) |
| Product area | Phenix |
| Hosted | On-prem Deployed to our own machines
|
| Releases | 4 release pipeline(s): \commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-db; \commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-service; \commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-service-contract; \flights-stream\cruise\phenix-cruise-service |
| Integration | wcf, rest, redis |
| Source | Open in Azure DevOps |
Dependencies in context
Entanglement
kernel Bound into the core by 3 mechanism(s).
- Pinning dependency: application-framework, phenix-feature-service, mail-service
- Speaks WCF (host)
- Shares core database sqlserver:EventLog
Detaches when its pinning dependencies are cut or multi-targeted (application-framework, phenix-feature-service, mail-service); and when its WCF surface gains a modern interface or its WCF calls move to one; and when the shared database group it belongs to gains an owned API or completes schema separation (sqlserver:EventLog).
Depends on / used by
Migration playbooks
Generated from this repo's assessment data: what is feasible, what blocks it, and the steps in order. Ratings: green means actionable now, amber means sequence other work first, red means blocked, grey means not applicable.
ZDD adoption
A long roadTechnically eligible one day, but the blockers are structural: hosted WCF or SOAP contracts that cannot run two versions at once, or heavy legacy coupling. Sequence the modernisation work first. Hosts WCF or SOAP endpoints: strict serialization contracts cannot safely run two versions at once (the shared-enum trap). End-of-life runtime compounds the work. Shares sqlserver:EventLog: schema changes move in convoy.
- 1 system(s) depend on this repo; during a rolling deploy they will talk to old and new versions at once, so responses must stay compatible
- Shares sqlserver:EventLog with 13 system(s): destructive schema change is prohibited in a single release; expand and contract only
- Serialized state or messages in flight (Redis or queues): new code must deserialize objects written by the previous version
- Feature flags come from phenix-feature-service (WCF-only): flag reads themselves are a legacy dependency to watch
- Session is externalised to Redis: keep it that way, and check session object compatibility between versions
- Adopt the four-stage discipline from the ZDD engineering standard: pre-deployment compatibility, deployment, feature activation behind a flag, post-release cleanup.
- Raise automated test coverage first: ZDD trades the end-of-sprint manual gate for continuous automated confidence, so the tests are the entry ticket.
- Make every change dual-version safe: backwards-compatible APIs (new major version for breaking wire changes), expand and contract for any schema change, and consumers tolerant of unknown fields.
- Audit serialized data: anything in Redis, queues or shared caches must deserialize cleanly across adjacent versions.
- Wrap behaviour changes in feature flags so code deploys dark and release becomes a business decision, not a deployment event.
- Route deployments through the Workflow Engine's automated drain, deploy, health-check, return cycle (the path proven by the first automated production run in mid-2026).
- Verify with area-scoped regression rather than the whole-platform cycle, and watch error rates after rollout with automated rollback on alert.
SQL Server exit
Blocked by a shared core databasesqlserver:EventLog is shared, so this system cannot change engine on its own: every sharer moves in convoy. The stage 4 work (named owner, declarative schema, owned API) has to land first; after that, the steps below apply to whatever slice this system ends up owning.
- Inventory the schema and query surface of sqlserver:CruiseTravelTek, sqlserver:EventLog: tables, stored procedures, triggers, cross-database joins and anything else engine-specific.
- Confirm the target: PostgreSQL (relational model; keep transactions and joins, swap the engine).
- Replatform to modern .NET first (see the recommended actions): current PostgreSQL and MongoDB drivers and EF Core providers target modern .NET, and doing one risky change at a time is cheaper than doing two.
- Data access is not through an ORM, so port the SQL by hand: translate T-SQL constructs, replace stored procedures with application code or target-native equivalents, and add integration tests around the queries that matter first.
- Stand up the target alongside SQL Server, backfill with an ETL pass (pgloader or an export/import job), then dual-write or replicate until parity is proven.
- Move reads to the target, watch correctness and latency, then cut writes over and keep SQL Server read-only until confidence is earned.
- Decommission the SQL Server database and remove the connection strings and firewall paths that pointed at it.
Containerisation
Feasible after replatformingAppropriate eventually, but not from here: the legacy runtime and the hosted WCF surface both have to go first, and that work is already in this repo's recommended actions.
- .NET Framework only runs on Windows; practical (Linux) containers need modern .NET
- Hosts WCF or SOAP endpoints, which have no home on modern .NET; consumers need a modern interface first
- Replatform to modern .NET first (see the recommended actions), replacing the hosted WCF/SOAP surface with REST, gRPC or messaging so consumers can follow. Containerising then becomes routine.
- Add a Dockerfile and make the app read all configuration from environment variables and the secrets manager, never from machine-local files.
- Log to stdout and expose a health check endpoint so ECS can supervise it.
- Adopt the shared ci.yml pipeline template with the container parameters (awsRegion, containerAfterBuild, ecsTerraformRepo), which is exactly how the estate's existing AWS services deploy.
- Define the service in the Terraform repo, deploy to a non-production environment, then shift traffic and disarm the deployment-group release pipeline.
Recommended actions
Replatform phenix-cruise-service to modern .NET
Runs on .NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Framework 4.5.2, out of mainstream support. Blocked until stage 2 cuts: application-framework, phenix-feature-service, mail-service. Shares sqlserver:EventLog, so batch it with its database group (stage 4).
Impact: Unblocks 1 dependent system(s)
proposedAssessment notes
phenix-cruise-service
Purpose
The Phenix integration of the Cruise product: TC.Phenix.Cruise.ServiceHost exposes CruiseServiceHost.svc (WCF) with Buying and Selling service implementations that search, price and book cruises through the Traveltek XML API, driven today from the Quote UI (the README notes a dedicated UI is still "to be later migrated"). The repo also contains the CruiseDatabase SSDT project (CruiseTravelTek schema and stored procedures), a WPF-ish .NET 8 test client, and an older TC.CruiseWebsite.Service (net452) for the public cruise website.
Tech stack
C# WCF service on .NET Framework 4.7.2 (SDK-style projects, PackageReference) with ConnectionBroker Sql/Redis/Wcf/Api, TC.RemoteSession over Redis, and Phenix.Provider proxy tooling; the legacy website service is .NET Framework 4.5.2 with packages.config. SQL data access is raw SqlConnection against CruiseTravelTek stored procedures.
Deployment
prod_application with 4 releases. Active build pipelines phenix-cruise-service, phenix-cruise-service-contract and phenix-cruise-db, plus three [experimenting-dont-use] variants still attached; the live release pipeline is \flights-stream\cruise\phenix-cruise-service with three abandoned [experimenting-dont-use] release definitions under \commercial\cruise\. No pipeline YAML in the repo (classic definitions). Hosted in IIS.
Dependencies
Internal: TC.ConnectionBroker.* (tc-connectionbroker), TC.Exceptions.* (tc-exceptions), TC.Phenix.ApplicationFramework (application-framework), TC.Phenix.CompanyInfo (company-info-api), TC.Phenix.Feature (phenix-feature-service), TC.ExchangeRate.* (exchange-rate-service), TC.Mail.ServiceClient (mail-service), TC.DestinationManagement.API.Client (phenix-destination-management), TC.ContactCentre.ServiceClient (phenix-contact-centre-wcf), TC.UserAccount.ServiceClient (backoffice-useraccount-service), TC.Phenix.Quote.ServiceContract (phenix-quote), TC.Flights.Domain (phenix-flights). External: Traveltek cruise API (searching, cabin grades, deck plans, static image content).
Data stores
SQL Server CruiseTravelTek database (schema owned here via the sqlproj) for cruise reference/booking data; the EventLog database via TC.Exceptions.DatabaseLogger for error logging; Redis for remote session and supplier caching.
Integration points
Inbound WCF (consumed by phenix-cruise UI and phenix-quote); outbound REST/XML to Traveltek and ConnectionBroker calls to Phenix services; Redis session/cache.
Code health
Three test projects (Buying, Selling, legacy website service) with realistic Traveltek XML sample fixtures — reasonable but not comprehensive coverage. Actively maintained (last commit 2026-06-10, a CPU/memory improvement). README is brief but genuine. Leftover [experimenting-dont-use] pipelines add noise to the deployment picture.
Modernisation risks
High: a production-critical WCF service on .NET Framework 4.7.2 with no WCF path to modern .NET; the .NET 10 Cruise APIs in phenix-cruise (gateway/content/Odysseus ACL) look like the replacement direction, but buying/selling and the Traveltek integration still live here. The CruiseTravelTek database and the WCF contract package couple this repo to phenix-cruise and phenix-quote, so retirement needs coordinated migration.