The Bottleneck
Our client was experiencing slower query performance during busy periods due to unoptimized database joins and lock contention. The single PostgreSQL instance was handling both read and write operations, which created a challenge during peak hours.
The Architecture Overhaul
We separated read and write workloads using AWS Aurora Read Replicas and introduced an asynchronous Redis queuing buffer for write operations. The application layer was decomposed into containerized microservices running on ECS Fargate, allowing each service to scale independently.
Infrastructure Changes
Database migrations were automated using Prisma, and connection pooling was implemented via PgBouncer. We added a CDN layer with CloudFront for static assets and implemented Redis caching for frequently accessed queries.
Results
The platform now handles 15,000+ concurrent users with 99.9% uptime. Query response times dropped from 800ms to 45ms under load, and infrastructure costs reduced by 40% through efficient resource allocation.