Client Overview:
Our client is a leading e-commerce company that experienced rapid growth, leading to challenges in managing their monolithic application infrastructure. They sought to modernize their application architecture, leveraging cloud-native technologies to improve scalability, security, and cost-efficiency.
Problem Statement:
The client’s existing infrastructure consisted of 10 services deployed on AWS Elastic Container Service (ECS) with Terraform and Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) for storing Docker images. However, they faced challenges with manual deployments, lack of automated security scanning, and inefficient resource utilization.
Solution Overview:
AEITCH implemented a comprehensive cloud-native solution on AWS, leveraging various services and best practices to address the client’s challenges. The key components of the solution included:
- Containerized Applications:
- Dockerfiles were created for Python, Java, Node.js, and Ruby applications, enabling consistent and reproducible deployments.
- AWS Security Hub was integrated to perform automated security scanning of Docker images, ensuring compliance and mitigating vulnerabilities.
- Automated Deployments and Infrastructure as Code (IaC):
- Jenkins was utilized for creating a CI/CD pipeline, automating the deployment process and infrastructure provisioning using Terraform.
- The pipeline checked for Terraform state files stored in Amazon S3 and cross-checked the infrastructure state before deployment.
- Blue/Green deployment strategy was implemented for seamless application updates without downtime.
- Highly Available and Secure Architecture:
- The services were deployed across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) for high availability.
- Services were hosted in private subnets, with an Elastic Load Balancer in a public subnet for path-based routing.
- AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF) was integrated with Amazon CloudFront for OWASP vulnerability identification and mitigation.
- Databases and Caching:
- Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) with MySQL and Aurora databases were utilized for data storage.
- Amazon ElastiCache was implemented to improve application performance by caching frequently accessed data.
- Monitoring, Logging, and DNS Management:
- Amazon CloudWatch was used for comprehensive monitoring and logging of the services.
- AWS Route 53 was employed for DNS management, ensuring reliable routing and failover capabilities.
- Security and Access Management:
- Least-privileged user roles and permissions were implemented using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for enhanced security.
- AWS Certificate Manager (ACM) was used for managing and renewing SSL/TLS certificates.
- Storage and Content Delivery:
- Amazon S3 was utilized for storing Docker images, application files, and other static assets.
- Amazon CloudFront was used for caching and delivering static content, improving application performance and reducing latency.
- Infrastructure Provisioning:
- Terraform modules were employed for provisioning and managing services like ECS, S3, CloudFront, CloudWatch, and other AWS resources.
- Front-end Deployments:
- One front-end application was deployed on Amazon EC2 instances using AWS CodeDeploy for automated deployments.
- Another front-end application was hosted on Amazon S3 and delivered through Amazon CloudFront.
Results:
By implementing this cloud-native architecture on AWS, the client achieved significant improvements in scalability, security, and cost-efficiency. The automated deployment process and Infrastructure as Code approach streamlined application updates and infrastructure management. The highly available and secure architecture ensured reliable service delivery, while the monitoring and logging capabilities provided real-time visibility into the system’s health. Additionally, the separation of concerns and implementation of best practices enhanced overall system maintainability and reduced operational overhead.