Content delivery networks (CDNs) serve as the backbone for distributing web content efficiently and reliably across the globe. Recently, many media companies are choosing to transition from Akamai to Amazon CloudFront to capitalize on the advanced scalability and performance offered by AWS.
Outlined below is a case study of a customer looking to migrate their CDN from Akamai to CloudFront and an overview of the steps taken by the TrackIt team to ensure a seamless migration.
Contents
Understanding the Problem
The client initially approached TrackIt with concerns about performance issues and rising costs associated with their existing CDN, Akamai. Their content delivery wasn’t meeting expectations in terms of speed and reliability, and managing multiple systems was becoming a major operational bottleneck. After several discussions and deep dives into their infrastructure, it became clear that they needed a more integrated solution—one that could scale with their growing requirements while also bringing costs under control.
A thorough analysis of their architecture and workflow was conducted, as a result a migration to Amazon CloudFront was proposed. This solution not only addressed the immediate challenges but also positioned the client for future scalability with advanced automation, enhanced security, and more insightful analytics.
Additionally, TrackIt assisted the client in applying for AWS Proof of Concept (PoC) funding, which helped to fully offset the migration costs. The entire migration process was carried out at no expense to the client, making the transition to Amazon CloudFront a cost-free initiative. Once the plan was finalized and AWS funding approved, TrackIt initiated the migration process.
Why Amazon CloudFront Was the Right Choice
Several key factors made Amazon CloudFront the ideal solution:
- Integration with AWS: CloudFront seamlessly integrated with the client’s existing AWS infrastructure, making it easier to manage content delivery.
- Cost-Effectiveness: It offered a more cost-effective solution compared to Akamai, helping the client allocate resources more efficiently.
- Advanced Automation: APIs within CloudFront allowed automation of various tasks that previously required manual effort, improving overall operational efficiency.
- Self-Service Capabilities: The client could now manage configurations independently, which reduced reliance on third-party services and sped up implementation.
- Enhanced Security: Built-in security features aligned with the client’s requirements, ensuring that content delivery was both fast and secure.
Executing the Migration
The CDN migration was structured meticulously to ensure a seamless transition. The TrackIt engineering team, led by a AWS certified solution architect, conducted extensive research to map Akamai’s features to CloudFront equivalents. Key considerations during this phase included:
- Origins: Identified AWS-hosted ALBs, backends, and S3 buckets as primary content sources, enabling smooth integration with CloudFront.
- Cache Rules: Tailored cache behaviors were created for multiple content types to ensure optimal delivery performance.
- Lambda@Edge: Designed custom Lambda functions for on-the-fly modifications at edge locations, such as URL rewriting and setting universal headers.
- Geo-Restrictions: CloudFront’s geo-blocking features were employed to protect the client’s infrastructure.
- Data Compression: Implemented Gzip and Brotli compression techniques to enhance speed and reduce data transfer.
- SSL/TLS Management: AWS Certificate Manager was integrated to streamline SSL/TLS certificate management and renewals, making the process seamless.
Building a Scalable CloudFront Analytics Solution
After successfully completing the migration, attention shifted to developing a comprehensive analytics solution to monitor and optimize content delivery. The solution was built using multiple AWS services to ensure efficient data processing, storage, and visualization.
- Data Ingestion and Storage: Amazon S3 was utilized to store CloudFront logs and processed data, providing scalable and durable storage. S3 also served as the repository for video metadata.
- Data Processing: AWS Glue jobs were implemented to process and aggregate large volumes of CloudFront logs. Lambda functions were also leveraged to integrate with MediaInfo for the extraction of detailed video metadata such as resolution, bitrate, and duration.
- Data Cataloging and Querying: AWS Glue Data Catalog was employed to manage metadata, while Amazon Athena was used to run queries on processed data for ad-hoc analysis. Athena views were also created to combine aggregated data with video metadata for a comprehensive overview of asset performance.
- Workflow Orchestration: AWS Step Functions coordinated the ETL processes, ensuring that jobs were executed in the correct order and handling errors with retry mechanisms. The workflow was scheduled to run every 6 hours to keep the analytics data up-to-date.
- Data Visualization: Amazon QuickSight was used to create dashboards that visualize the data, providing stakeholders with interactive tools to analyze CDN performance. Multiple datasets, including daily aggregation and combined metadata, were utilized to enable flexible and detailed analysis.
Challenges and Optimizations
Throughout the migration, TrackIt encountered several challenges, particularly around managing large data volumes and ensuring real-time analytics. The following optimizations were implemented to address these issues:
- Data Partitioning: Partitioned S3 data by date, which improved query performance and reduced costs.
- Glue Job Tuning: By selecting the appropriate worker types and numbers based on data volume, Glue jobs were optimized.
- Lambda Concurrency Limits: Concurrency limits were set on the Lambda functions to control costs while maintaining efficient processing.
- S3 Lifecycle Policies: Implemented lifecycle policies to transition older data to cheaper storage classes and delete outdated temporary files, reducing storage costs.
Results and Benefits
- Funding Benefit: Thanks to AWS’s Proof of Concept (PoC) funding, the migration was entirely free for the client. This financial support allowed the client to transition to Amazon CloudFront without bearing any additional costs.
- Improved Decision-Making: Comprehensive delivery and performance metrics provided the content and infrastructure teams with the data they needed to make informed decisions.
- Enhanced Video Quality Management: Detailed video metadata allowed for optimized encoding and delivery strategies, improving the overall user experience.
- Efficient Resource Allocation: Insights into traffic patterns and asset performance enabled better resource allocation, driving cost optimization.
- Quick Issue Resolution: The ability to analyze logs and performance data quickly helped the team identify and resolve issues more efficiently.
- Scalability and Future-Proofing: The serverless architecture ensured that the solution could scale with increasing data volumes, keeping it ready for future growth without major changes.
Closing Thoughts
Through careful planning, efficient execution, and the use of advanced data processing and visualization tools, TrackIt helped the client not only improve their CDN performance but also gain actionable insights into their content delivery.
This modular solution is designed to grow alongside the client’s needs, with potential for real-time analytics integration and even the development of machine learning models for predictive analytics.
Migrating Your CDN to CloudFront
About TrackIt
TrackIt is an international AWS cloud consulting, systems integration, and software development firm headquartered in Marina del Rey, CA.
We have built our reputation on helping media companies architect and implement cost-effective, reliable, and scalable Media & Entertainment workflows in the cloud. These include streaming and on-demand video solutions, media asset management, and archiving, incorporating the latest AI technology to build bespoke media solutions tailored to customer requirements.
Cloud-native software development is at the foundation of what we do. We specialize in Application Modernization, Containerization, Infrastructure as Code and event-driven serverless architectures by leveraging the latest AWS services. Along with our Managed Services offerings which provide 24/7 cloud infrastructure maintenance and support, we are able to provide complete solutions for the media industry.