Application and Infrastructure Management on Azure & AWS by Synergy Technologies

Challenge

Synergy Technologies faced the challenge of managing a diverse portfolio of client applications hosted on both Azure and AWS. The key objectives were to ensure high availability, enhance security, optimize costs, and achieve operational excellence while maintaining peak performance. The applications included mission-critical systems such as e-commerce platforms, CRM systems, HRMS applications, and CMS websites, each with unique requirements for scalability, reliability, and cost management.

Infrastructure Overview

Azure

Global Marketplace Application : 8 servers (Linux VMs, SQL servers, Cache servers, BLOB servers)

Segment-oriented Marketplace Application : 16 servers (Linux VMs, SQL Servers, Mongo Servers, BLOB Servers)

HRMS Application : 4 servers (Linux VMs, SQL Servers, BLOB Servers)

CMS Website : 6 servers (Linux VMs, SQL Servers, BLOB Servers)

AWS

Intelligent Hospitality Management Application : 5 servers (EC2 instances, RDS, Amplify, S3)

CRM Application : 10 servers (EC2, S3, RDS, Route 53)

Total Managed Servers : 49

Solution

To address the complexity of managing these applications, Synergy Technologies implemented a suite of advanced management practices, grounded in the Azure Well-Architected Framework and AWS best practices.

1. Troubleshooting Infrastructure Failures

Objective

Rapid detection and resolution of infrastructure issues to minimize downtime and ensure service continuity.

Tools

Azure Monitor : Real-time metrics collection and alerting.

Azure Applications Insight : Deep application performance monitoring.

Azure Service Health : Notifications for Azure service issues.

AWS Cloud Watch : Monitoring and log management.

Process

Automated Alerts : Set up alerts for critical metrics like disk I/O (90% threshold), network latency (150ms threshold), and application errors.

Root Cause Analysis : Used Azure Application Insights for detailed analysis of failure points

Resolution Time : Established an SLA of <30 minutes for critical issue resolution, achieving an average resolution time of 25 minutes.

Outcome

Downtime : Reduced unplanned downtime by 40%.

Service Continuity : Improved incident response time by 50% through automation.

2. Cost Optimization

Objective

Maximize cost efficiency without compromising performance or availability.

Tools

Azure Cost Management + Billing : Regularly analyzed spend and usage.

Azure Advisor : Provided actionable recommendations for cost savings.

AWS Trusted Advisor : Offered cost optimization insights.

Stratagies

Migration from IaaS to PaaS : Shifted from using Azure Virtual Machines (IaaS) to Azure Web Apps (PaaS) for several client applications led to a 40% reduction in operational costs, as Azure Web Apps offer more cost-effective scaling and a pay-as-you-go model that better aligns with actual usage patterns.

Right Sizing : Adjusted service plans based on CPU and memory utilization patterns, achieving a 25% reduction in unused capacity.

Resource Cleanup : Periodic cleanup of unused resources like orphaned disks and idle resources.

Outcome

Savings : Realized a total cost savings of 40% across Azure and AWS environments.

Effeciency : Improved resource utilization by 35%, aligning costs more closely with actual usage, reducing the need for manual intervention and enabling more efficient use of resources.

3. Service Upgrade Suggestion

Objective

Proactively leverage new cloud features, SaaS offerings, and services to enhance performance, functionality, and security.

Process

Assessments : Conducted quarterly assessments of cloud services and third-party SaaS offerings to identify opportunities for upgrades and integration.

Detailed Recommendations : Provided clients with detailed reports on potential upgrades, including cost-benefit analysis.

Example

1. Shift to PAAS offerings from MS Azure

Enhance application performance and reduce operational overhead by leveraging advanced Azure PaaS offerings(from Azure VMs to Azure Web Apps).

Outcome

Performance : The transition resulted in a more responsive and resilient application infrastructure.

Operational Excellence : By reducing the operational burden, we achieved faster deployment cycles and improved focus on strategic initiatives.

2. Integration of Serverless Services

These advanced management practices, including the strategic use of serverless services, empowered Synergy Technologies to provide robust, secure, and cost-efficient infrastructure management. By incorporating serverless functions into our architecture, we were able to deliver a highly scalable and responsive solution that met our clients diverse application needs while optimizing costs and performance.

Outcome

Performance : The transition to PaaS and serverless models resulted in a more responsive and resilient application infrastructure.

Operational Excellence : By reducing the operational burden, we achieved faster deployment cycles and improved focus on strategic initiatives.

4. Automation and Alerts

1. Automation

Objective

Streamline and enhance the deployment process to ensure consistent, reliable, and efficient delivery of applications.

Deployment Automation

GitHub Actions : We have fully integrated GitHub Actions into our CI/CD pipeline to automate the deployment of both frontend and backend services across multiple environments. This automation ensures that code changes are tested, validated, and deployed seamlessly without manual intervention.

Infrastructure as Code (IaC)-ARM Templates & Terraform : We use ARM templates and Terraform scripts within GitHub Actions workflows to automate the provisioning and management of infrastructure. This ensures that the infrastructure is consistent, repeatable, and easily recoverable.

Outcome

Efficiency : The use of GitHub Actions has reduced deployment time by 60%, allowing for more frequent and reliable releases.

Consistency : Automated deployments have minimized human errors, ensuring that deployments are consistent and repeatable.

Agility : Teams can focus on writing code rather than managing deployments, leading to faster feature delivery and improved productivity.

2. Alerts

Objective

Proactive monitoring to prevent and quickly resolve issues

Tools

Azure Monitor, AWS CloudWatch.

Key Alerts

Budget Alerts : Tracked and managed costs, reducing budget overruns by 15%.

CPU Utilization Alerts : Ensured application performance, maintaining CPU utilization within optimal ranges (60-80%).

Benefits

By adhering to the Azure Well-Architected Framework and AWS best practices, Synergy Technologies achieved the following

Reliability

Redundancy : Implemented across all critical systems, achieving 99.95% availability.

Fault Tolerance : Ensured by leveraging multi-region deployments and auto-recovery features.

Security

Access Controls : Implemented role-based access controls (RBAC) and multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Compliance : Achieved ISO 27001 compliance, ensuring data security across all managed applications.

Cost Effeciency

Resource Optimization : Realized a 28% reduction in cloud spending through optimization strategies.

Cost Monitoring : Implemented continuous monitoring, reducing unnecessary expenditures by 20%.

Operational Excellence

Automation : Automated 80% of repetitive tasks, leading to a 40% increase in operational efficiency.

Comprehensive Monitoring : Enabled end-to-end visibility across the infrastructure, improving proactive issue resolution by 50%.

Performance Effeciency

Scalability : Achieved seamless scaling of applications, supporting 3x traffic spikes without degradation.

Optimization : Continuous performance tuning improved application response times by 30%.

These advanced management practices empowered Synergy Technologies to provide robust, secure, and cost-efficient infrastructure management, delivering continuous value and improvement for their clients diverse application needs.