Migration to Amazon RDS for MariaDB for High-Traffic E-Commerce Solution
Explore how we migrated a database to Amazon RDS to enhance scalability, reduce maintenance, and improve solution's performance.
Our Customer
Online Retailer and Distributor
Gorgany is a huge retail, wholesale and distribution company of outdoor equipment in Ukraine. The company specializes in the wholesale trade of goods for tourism, mountaineering, skiing, and active recreation.
Established initially as an online retailer, Gorgany has expanded to operate stores across various Ukrainian cities, offering a wide range of products. The company represents renowned global brands such as Salewa, Osprey, Turbat, Zamberlan, Esbit, Alpine Pro, Merrell and others.
The Challenges
Performance Limitations with MySQL on Amazon RDS
The client, a digital retail business operating a high-traffic Magento platform, relied on Amazon RDS for MySQL to support their e-commerce workloads. However, as their user base and order volume increased, several issues with the back end of the system surfaced:
- Performance Bottlenecks
The client’s Magento workload required greater efficiency than MySQL’s default thread pooling and storage engines could provide. During peak traffic, noticeable latency was caused by high query complexity and concurrent operations. - Limited Optimisation
The client required greater control over thread management, caching, and storage engines – areas in which the default MySQL setup offered limited control, hindering optimisation efforts for their Magento platform. - Feature Incompatibility with Modern Tools
Several critical operational modules and third-party tools had begun to rely on MariaDB-specific features, making the continued use of MySQL increasingly restrictive and raising concerns about long-term integration compatibility.
The Solution
Migration to Amazon RDS for MariaDB Using Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
To eliminate these constraints, we led a cross-engine migration from Amazon RDS for MySQL to Amazon RDS for MariaDB, optimized specifically for high-traffic, transaction-heavy Magento workloads:
- In-Place Cross-Engine Migration
Our experts executed a database migration by replicating live data from MySQL to MariaDB 10.6 with near-zero downtime and no negative impact on website users. To ensure a safe switchover, we used pre-migration schema validation scripts to confirm compatibility and reduce potential disruption. - MariaDB Performance Tuning
Then we fine-tuned Thread Pool to improve concurrency and performance under high-load conditions by optimizing the way threads are managed and reducing overhead in connection handling. By adjusting critical parameters, such as the InnoDB buffer pool size and thread cache, we optimized the database configuration to better align with Magento’s transaction-heavy workload. - Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
We provisioned all Amazon RDS resources, parameter groups, and configuration settings using Terraform to ensure full reproducibility and version control. The setup enabled CI/CD pipelines for seamless, automated database updates and environment rollouts. - Monitoring and Observability
We configured detailed monitoring with Amazon CloudWatch, including custom dashboards and alarms for query throughput, CPU utilization, storage IOPS, and replication lag. This allowed for proactive performance management and faster incident response.
The Results
Modern Database Architecture on Amazon RDS for Demanding Workloads
The migration unlocked overall significant improvements in database performance, manageability, and integration flexibility, specifically:
- Reduced Query Latency
The optimization of MariaDB’s thread handling and memory configurations significantly lowered query response times, ensuring smoother performance even under heavy user load. - Fully Automated Deployment
Terraform and CI/CD pipelines we implemented allowed the automation of the provisioning and management of all RDS resources, reducing manual effort and eliminating configuration drift. - Unrestricted Integration Capabilities
The migration to MariaDB enabled full use of its plugins and integration with modern tools, avoiding vendor lock-in and guaranteeing independence in the platform’s tech stack. - Higher System Reliability
By integrating advanced monitoring with CloudWatch and tuning database configurations, we delivered sustained performance, faster issue resolution, and a scalable infrastructure for long-term growth.
Why Romexsoft
Established Amazon RDS Migration Partner
Romexsoft is an AWS Advanced Tier Services Partner offering end-to-end Amazon RDS consulting and implementation services. We help businesses simplify, secure, and scale their relational database workloads with a fully managed cloud service.
Our RDS migration approach delivered measurable benefits for clients:
- Zero service disruption during migration
- Optimized database performance
- Fully automated provisioning via Terraform
- Real-time monitoring with custom alerts
- Cross-region replication with tested backup and restore operations.
