Modernizing Bot Infrastructure: A Kubernetes Success Story

I led a project transforming our scattered bot infrastructure to Kubernetes. With bots spread across multiple servers and tech stacks, our teams faced maintenance challenges and rising costs.

🎲 The challenge

Bots were created for various projects using different tech stacks and deployed across multiple servers. It created a complex system with:

• Inconsistent deployment processes
• Varied maintenance requirements
• Redundant infrastructure costs
• Limited scalability options

How we tackled

💪 Here is how we tackled it at a high level using the Assess, Mobilize, and Modernize framework:

🔍 Assess: AWS Application Discovery Service (ADS) revealed crucial insights

• Mapped bot dependencies across different environments
• Identified resource utilization overlap
• Uncovered opportunities to standardize common functionalities
• Created detailed migration paths for each bot’s unique requirements

🏗️ Mobilize: Established our Kubernetes foundation

• Prepared an existing Kubernetes cluster for hosting bot applications
• Created standardized templates for bot containerization
• Conducted hands-on workshops for team upskilling
• Implemented centralized monitoring and logging

⚡ Modernize: Executed our transformation

• Refactored bots into containerized applications
• Established automated testing and validation
• Deployed the bots via DevSecOps pipelines
• Monitored and refined deployed resources

📕 Key Learnings

• Using AWS Application Discovery Service helped us understand how our systems were connected and being used, which guided our migration planning
• The team adoption process depended on enabling workshops and documentation
• Standardized templates accelerated the containerization process
• Ongoing feedback loops played a crucial role in improving our migration approach

🎯 Impact

The migration changed our operations. Deployment cycles shrank from hours to minutes. We cut our monthly spending by 60%. Our new infrastructure maintains consistent uptime with zero-downtime deployments as standard practice.

The impact extended beyond just technical enhancements. Because of this change in our work culture, our development cycles moved faster, inspiring innovation throughout our projects. Teams that used to work separately started collaborating regularly by exchanging knowledge and resources.

🤝 Would love to hear your modernization story! What challenges have you encountered so far?