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Migrating Microservice Workloads to Graviton Architecture

Discover how to use ARM architecture to your microservice workloads' advantage to reduce costs and boost performance. Find out how we can optimise your cloud infrastructure with our planned move to AWS Graviton processors.

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Client Overview

Humanoo operating in the healthcare industry, has developed an innovative platform that caters to employee retention and corporate wellness. The platform is designed to provide comprehensive wellness solutions to insurance companies and employers.

By implementing these wellness programs, companies can improve employee satisfaction, reduce absenteeism, and enhance productivity. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and customised wellness programs, the start-up helps companies create a healthier and more supportive work environment that benefits both employees and employers.

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Challenge

The client’s microservices architecture was initially set up on AWS ECS Fargate, leveraging Java and Docker for development and management. However, they faced significant challenges:

Cost Efficiency

The client needed to reduce the operational costs of running ECS workloads.

Performance Optimisation

Enhancing the performance of their microservice workloads was critical for maintaining service quality and user satisfaction.

Solution

To tackle these challenges, we embarked on a strategic migration of the microservice workloads to the Graviton architecture. The solution involved several key steps:

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Docker Images Update

We updated Dockerfiles and CI/CD pipelines to build the Docker images to support the ARM64 architecture, ensuring they were compatible with Graviton processors. These updated images were then uploaded to Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR).

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ECS Task Definitions

We modified the ECS task definitions to utilize the new Graviton-specific images. This encompassed both the core container and any sidecar containers, ensuring a seamless integration with the existing infrastructure.

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Deployment and Testing

The Graviton workloads were initially deployed in a staging environment to conduct thorough testing. This approach allowed us to identify and address any potential issues before transitioning the workloads to the production environment, ensuring a smooth and risk-free migration.

Results

The migration to Graviton-based microservices resulted in several substantial benefits:
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Cost Reduction

The client experienced a significant 35% reduction in operational costs, confirmed through thorough monitoring and analysis using AWS Cost Explorer and Billing tools.

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Performance Maximisation

The performance of the microservices saw significant improvements, which were corroborated by developers, third-party monitoring tools, and AWS CloudWatch metrics.

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Enhanced Compatibility

The migration also led to improved compatibility with ARM-optimised technologies, opening up new possibilities for further optimisation and integration.

Technology Stack

To achieve these results, the following technologies and tools were utilised:

  • Cloud Computing: Amazon ECS, ECR, Parameter Store, Secrets Manager, VPC, RDS
  • Infrastructure as Code: Terraform, Terragrunt
  • CI/CD: CircleCI, Log Management, Monitoring, and Alerting: AWS CloudWatch, New Relic, Slack, AWS Lambda, SNS, Freshping
  • Team Collaboration: Jira, Confluence, Slack
  • Source Control: GitHub, Git
By leveraging this robust tech stack, we ensured a seamless and efficient migration process, resulting in enhanced performance and cost efficiency for the client’s microservice workloads.
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