Unlocking Success: A Cloud Transformation Journey
About the Customer
In the heart of the EUROPE, a renowned provider of knowledge solutions for the various industry faced several challenges in managing their applications and databases. To address these issues and to ensure optimal performance, they embarked on a transformative journey by leveraging Amazon Web Services (AWS) to modernize their infrastructure.
The Challenges
Single-Server Database Limitations
The customer's existing application and database setup were confined to a single database server. The secondary server remained in standby mode, lacking scalability, and redundancy.
Elasticsearch Scalability Woes
The Elasticsearch engine used for free-text search was hosted on a single server. The limited scalability of this setup frequently led to server crashes, requiring frequent reboots.
Intensive Image Processing
The nature of the application involved intensive image processing tasks, resulting in high CPU and memory utilization. Hosting this on a dedicated server proved to be costly.
Expensive Storage and Backups
The storage and backup solutions in place were costly, affecting the overall operational expenses.
AWS Architecture
The Solution
To address these challenges, the customer engaged in a comprehensive AWS-based transformation.
Databases Redefined
PostgreSQL for Less-Accessed Data: Recognizing that 50% of their data was rarely accessed, the customer migrated the database from MS SQL to PostgreSQL, hosted on Amazon RDS.
MS SQL for High Availability: For the remaining 50% of frequently accessed data, MS SQL was retained to ensure high availability.
Elasticsearch Made Scalable
Amazon EC2 Clusters: Elasticsearch clusters were reconfigured across 18 Amazon EC2 virtual machines. This new setup ensured scalability as needed.
Effortless Image Processing
AWS Serverless Architecture: Image processing tasks were efficiently managed through AWS Serverless Architecture. AWS Lambda, SQS, and S3 services worked together to process millions of images stored in S3 buckets without affecting application performance.
State-of-the-Art Caching
AWS ElasticCache Redis: User session states were seamlessly processed by a 2-node AWS ElasticCache Redis cluster, optimizing the load for all applications, databases, and services.
Load Management Simplified
Load Balancer: A load balancer was introduced to effectively manage the load generated by all components, ensuring seamless performance.
Cost-Effective Storage
Amazon S3 and Glacier: To address the issue of expensive storage and backups, the customer leveraged Amazon S3 along with Amazon Glacier for archives, reducing storage costs by a staggering 80%.
Content Delivery Optimized
CloudFront Edge Caching: AWS CloudFront Edge caching was employed to deliver content with minimal latency and high transfer speeds, enhancing user experience globally.
The Benefits
High Availability and Performance
The decision to split the database not only ensured high availability but also significantly improved performance, making it easier to handle increasing traffic.
Reduced Manual Effort
There was a substantial reduction in the effort required to manually set up and upgrade servers due to the increased traffic. Automation and scalability became the driving force behind operations.
Minimal Downtime
With this new AWS-based infrastructure, maintenance downtime was remarkably reduced, ensuring no data loss and achieving an astonishing 99.99999999999% uptime.
Cost Savings
The most compelling benefit was a whopping 40% annual cost savings when compared to the previous dedicated hosting model.
Conclusion
This case study exemplifies the transformative power of AWS in modernizing and optimizing complex systems. By addressing key challenges, our solutions not only enhanced performance but also significantly reduced operational costs. As your business navigates the digital landscape, consider the success of our customer, and how AWS can empower your own journey to success. Embrace the future of cloud computing and see your business flourish.