January 2023
As Software Providers, our lives would be made easier if the systems we create had to deal with transaction volumes that are stable and predictable. However, this is just not the case. Transactions volumes can peak and trough without warning. In some of our systems, such as retail, manufacture and IoT - activity can grow and shrink dramatically without warning. A great example of fluctuating volumes is the Print On-Demand market. This market sees various peaks and troughs throughout the year, culminating in a huge spike in November and December as the festive period approaches.
The problem we, DevOps developers, have to deal with in relation to transaction volumes is hardware sizing. To cope with peak volumes, we need to have appropriately sized hardware available. This hardware solution is then overkill when dealing with the troughs, meaning more costs than is absolutely needed.
The answer to this problem is auto-scaling.
Auto-scaling allows a well designed solution to scale as volumes grow and contracts when volumes reduce. You only pay for what you use! Auto-scaling technology is now very common and well understood. There is no excuse not to consider it when designing a modern solution.
If you would like more information on auto-scaling please message me.
Founder & CEO