The Challenge

Devine Globe was operating its production application on a managed hosting platform that limited visibility, scalability, and control. As the application grew, the existing setup introduced risks related to performance bottlenecks, security hardening, backup reliability, and lack of structured monitoring. The business required a production-ready AWS environment that could support growth while meeting security, reliability, and operational best practices.

This engagement was delivered for an SMB customer requiring cost-efficient, production-ready AWS infrastructure to support business growth and operational stability.

Discovery

DevOps TechLab conducted structured discovery sessions with Devine Globe’s technical stakeholders to understand:

– Application architecture and runtime dependencies
– Database requirements and data growth patterns
– Security expectations and compliance needs
– Monitoring, alerting, and operational gaps
– Deployment workflows and release processes

The discovery phase highlighted the need for a dedicated AWS production environment with strong security controls, observability, and a foundation for CI/CD.

Onboarding

DevOps TechLab onboarded Devine Globe to AWS with a structured migration and hardening approach:

– Designed and deployed a dedicated AWS production environment
– Established baseline security controls and IAM policies
– Deployed the application and database in the production environment
– Configured secure application-to-database connectivity
– Validated application readiness before proceeding with automation

All onboarding steps were aligned with AWS Well-Architected best practices.

Operations & Support

Post-migration, DevOps TechLab ensured operational readiness through:

– Configuration of RDS automated backups with 30-day retention
– Enablement of CloudTrail with 1-year log retention for audit readiness
– VPC Flow Logs enabled with lifecycle policies for cost-efficient retention
– Installation and configuration of CloudWatch Agent for system and application logs
– CloudWatch alarms for CPU, memory, disk, and database health
– Proactive alerting via email notifications

This provided Devine Globe with real-time visibility and faster incident response.

Optimisation & Advisory

DevOps TechLab provided continuous advisory support focused on:

– Security hardening (IAM password policies, restricted access, SSL configuration)
– Log retention optimization using S3 lifecycle policies
– Database observability via RDS logs and monitoring
– CI/CD advisory and implementation using GitLab pipelines
– Guidance on future enhancements such as cross-region backups and resilience improvements

Architecture Overview

The AWS architecture was designed with production readiness as a priority:

– Dedicated VPC with public and private subnets
– EC2 application server with restricted security groups and Elastic IP
– RDS MySQL deployed in private subnets with automated backups
– Secure S3 integration for application media using IAM roles
– Centralized logging via CloudWatch and S3
– CI/CD pipeline using GitLab for controlled production deployments

The architecture balances security, performance, scalability, and operational simplicity.

Outcome

As a result of this engagement:

Devine Globe successfully migrated to a secure AWS production environment

– Application stability and reliability improved significantly
– Operational visibility was enhanced with centralized monitoring and alerts
– Backup, logging, and audit readiness were strengthened
– Improved incident detection time through proactive monitoring and alerts
– Reduced operational risk through automated backups and centralized logging
– Enabled faster recovery through standardized backup and monitoring practices

The foundation for automated deployments and future scalability was established

AWS Best Practices Applied

– Operational Excellence: Monitoring, alerting, CI/CD readiness
– Security: IAM hardening, CloudTrail, network isolation
– Reliability: Automated backups, production-ready architecture
– Cost Optimization: Log lifecycle policies, right-sized architecture

About DevOps TechLab

DevOps TechLab is an AWS consulting and cloud optimization partner helping SMBs design, migrate, and operate secure, scalable, and cost-efficient AWS environments. With deep expertise in AWS architecture, security, monitoring, and governance, DevOps TechLab enables organizations to adopt AWS with confidence and long-term operational excellence.