The Project
Orderbird is a leading provider of iPad POS (Point of Sale) systems. Their product — a customized WiFi cash register system — is aimed at simplifying and improving the reporting functions of the various players in the hospitality and catering industries. However, on its own, orderbird still couldn’t answer the need for a better scaled IT infrastructure among restaurants, cafes, bars and clubs throughout Europe due to the growing volume of visitors and diners. Kreuzwerker came along and made a crucial contribution as it assisted Orderbird to migrate from an on-premise data center to into the AWS (Amazon Web Services) cloud.
The Problem
In general, the traditional data centers providers are limited in their ability to grow and respond to the rapidly-changing business needs. They are the target of the majority of DDoS attacks and for a company aiming to achieve scalability, cost-efficiency and fastest possible response time a migration to the cloud is a must.
In this particular case, the existing deployment processes as well as server and configuration management were not, or only partially, automated (causing occasionally server down-times). Furthermore, with the current solution not enough means had been taken to ensure the cyber security and restoration of the production systems and to efficiently manage developers’ and system administrators’ access rights.
The Solution
After successfully completing the proof-of-concept phase, we adhered to the predefined deadlines, providing orderbird with a fully migrated IT landscape: from a traditional data center to a state-of-the-art of cloud computing. We isolated the testing, stage and production environments and ringed them with restrictive firewall, turning them into separate VPCs (Amazon Virtual Private Clouds). This was followed by continuous integration and introduction of zero-downtime deployment processes: all the services had been converted into load-based auto scaling. Lastly, before the final deployment, the guiding safety configuration has been thoroughly revised and prepared for an audit.
Our Contribution
For a fully successful migration, we used several solutions. With a help of Packer we implemented Amazon Machine Image (AMI) based deployment process. Jenkins was used for managing continuous integration builds and delivery pipelines. All AWS infrastructure elements were supported by Terraform.
To ensure a smooth handover to the orderbird’s DevOps team, kreuzwerkers offered an 24/7 on-call rotation service.
The Benefit
By relocating to AWS, orderbird is now much more flexible in managing the company’s growing needs. Also, the new solution enables dynamic load management. It can respond quicker and more efficiently to DDoS attacks and guarantee full availability and highest quality of orderbird’s services.
The Upshot
Migration of a running system is always challenging. Downtimes are not tolerable (or only to a limited extent, at best). Startups depend on rapid growth in order to establish themselves in the market. For this reason, they cannot afford to have any downtimes, which can literally put and end to their business. By using a market leader in cloud computing combined with professional, full-service support, success is guaranteed.