Platform Evolution
Assessment run-2026-07-27-1 · 213 of 213 repos assessed
Repos / phenix-cruise-service

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.

42 · redhighkernelOn-premZDD: a long roadservice

Health score

42

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.


Runtime currency / 25
0
.NET Framework, out of mainstream support
Legacy transport / 15
2
Hosts WCF or SOAP endpoints with no successor on modern .NET
Test posture / 15
8
Some tests, coverage is thin
Security hygiene / 15
15
No credentials found in source
Dangerous coupling / 15
3
shares a core database (sqlserver:EventLog); depends on pinning component(s): application-framework, phenix-feature-service, mail-service
Activity / 10
10
Actively maintained
Deployment hygiene / 5
5
CI in place
Health over time
2026-07-24 (run-2026-07-24-1): 422026-07-27 (run-2026-07-27-1): 42
No change since 2026-07-24 (42 to 42).

Facts

Languagescsharp, sql
FrameworksWCF, SSDT
Runtimes.NET Framework 4.7.2, .NET Framework 4.5.2
Tests / CIsome / CI in place
Last commit2026-06-10
OwnerOwner unknown (mapping to be curated)
DomainSelling and quoting (system generated; curate in repo-owners.json to override)
Product areaPhenix
HostedOn-prem Deployed to our own machines
  • Release "\commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-db": QA: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-db": Staging: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-db": Production: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-db": Training: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
  • Release "\commercial\cruise\[experimenting-dont-use] phenix-cruise-service": Staging: deployment-group phase (agents on our own machines)
Releases4 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
Integrationwcf, rest, redis
SourceOpen in Azure DevOps

Risk flags

Each flag links to its glossary definition.

Dependencies in context

Laying out the graph…
greenamberreddata store (square, dashed link)Node size follows fan-in. Click any node to open it.

Entanglement

kernel Bound into the core by 3 mechanism(s).

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).

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 road

Technically 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.

Blockers
Dependencies and gotchas
  • 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
Steps
  1. Adopt the four-stage discipline from the ZDD engineering standard: pre-deployment compatibility, deployment, feature activation behind a flag, post-release cleanup.
  2. Raise automated test coverage first: ZDD trades the end-of-sprint manual gate for continuous automated confidence, so the tests are the entry ticket.
  3. 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.
  4. Audit serialized data: anything in Redis, queues or shared caches must deserialize cleanly across adjacent versions.
  5. Wrap behaviour changes in feature flags so code deploys dark and release becomes a business decision, not a deployment event.
  6. 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).
  7. 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 database

sqlserver: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.

Blockers
Steps
  1. Inventory the schema and query surface of sqlserver:CruiseTravelTek, sqlserver:EventLog: tables, stored procedures, triggers, cross-database joins and anything else engine-specific.
  2. Confirm the target: PostgreSQL (relational model; keep transactions and joins, swap the engine).
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. Move reads to the target, watch correctness and latency, then cut writes over and keep SQL Server read-only until confidence is earned.
  7. Decommission the SQL Server database and remove the connection strings and firewall paths that pointed at it.

Containerisation

Feasible after replatforming

Appropriate 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.

Blockers
Steps
  1. 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.
  2. Add a Dockerfile and make the app read all configuration from environment variables and the secrets manager, never from machine-local files.
  3. Log to stdout and expose a health check endpoint so ECS can supervise it.
  4. 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.
  5. 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)

proposed

Assessment 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.