Migrating 1,100 websites to Google Cloud in 30 days

1 min read
Sep 5, 2023

Overview

VerticalScope

Industries

Media & Entertainment

VerticalScope had one month to migrate the Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) servers for 1,100 websites from IBM Softlayer to the Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) on Google Cloud. However, the process could not be fully automated for two reasons: the crunched timeline and because the back-end architecture of the sites was not consistent—there were many different databases and software configurations at play. Also, since these sites have such a large user base, the migration needed to happen with zero downtime.  

To have any hope of meeting its aggressive 30-day deadline, VerticalScope needed the help of a team that was large enough, had the technical proficiency to quickly get up to speed, evaluate and migrate each site, and integrate quickly and seamlessly with VerticalScope engineering. 

Pythian brought two key things to this project: a global team with deep technical knowledge and a wealth of cloud migration experience to add to VerticalScope’s own talent, and a solid process to overcome the challenge of not being able to automate much of the migration.

 

What we did

  • Launched an “all-hands-on-deck” approach to pull in resources across many different teams—from site reliability engineers to project managers—to get the job done
  • Optimized workflows with scripts to automate prep work before a site migration 
  • Established a process, automated where possible (prep work before a site migration), and migrated all the servers with minimal disruption to site users
 

Technologies used

 
  • Google Cloud
  • Google Kubernetes Engine
  • IBM Softlayer

Key Outcomes

We definitely didn’t have the luxury of time, so we knew we needed a partner with the right skills and expertise to have any hope of meeting our deadline. We found that in Pythian. We couldn’t have done it without their extensive cloud and infrastructure migration experience, effective processes, and great communication.

– Brandon Seibel, Chief Architect, VerticalScope  

Met the 30-day deadline

to migrate 1,100 websites to Google Cloud

Explore our DevOps and Cloud Migration Services 

 

No matter your business, no matter the challenge: Pythian’s solutions drive results.