When the official website of Kubernetes revealed that a top European e-commerce platform, Zalando, was shifting to AKS (Azure Kubernetes Services), it made headlines. This was in 2015, and now, a decade later many websites and platforms have started using the service.
This includes online selling sites as well, which find the containerized nature of AKS convenient. If we talk about the E-commerce industry by numbers, experts have claimed that it will exceed $8 trillion by 2027. Here, AKS presents itself as a neat solution for large corporations and small business owners alike. Plus, with the service being available for Linux and Windows, it covers a wide range of apps.
You can start off by deploying an app and scale the service as you expand. This includes dealing with high volumes of internet traffic flocking to your site while keeping the performance up to the mark. But it’s necessary to keep an eye on resource utilization as well or costs will rise.
This is all covered under the umbrella of optimizing AKS. Now let’s look at some tips on how to achieve this.
Optimizing Azure Kubernetes Services to Keep Up With the Demand for New Laptops
Nowadays, with how increasingly digital the world is becoming, there is a steady need for new laptops from consumers. Looking at the numbers, some of the best 2024 laptops set a new benchmark. Notebook shipments increased by almost 5% compared to the past year.
Since customers usually rely on e-commerce sites to fulfill their laptop purchases, it’s important to optimize your AKS site. For example, if a new notebook is released, your site may experience a larger number of customers than normal. This may lead to performance degradation and site crashes if not dealt with.
One way of optimization is through AKS’s cluster autoscaler which increases the number of nodes. These ensure your platform is equipped to handle high user volume by analyzing the statistics of users present. Another approach can be to make use of Azure Load Balancer. This handles even traffic distribution across the nodes you have set up. When traffic is divided, it prevents site crashes.
Ensuring Cost-Effective Resource Management in Azure Kubernetes Services for E-Commerce
As your e-commerce site becomes more popular, it starts receiving more internet traffic. You would then need more resources to handle this. However, if left unchecked, the costs of using these resources can quickly add up. This is why cost optimization is needed.
The nature of e-commerce sites is that user volume can be variable. On peak days, for example, product launches, your platform can be visited by millions. However, on other days there might not be such a high influx. If your AKS platform uses the same resources on both days, it would accumulate a high bill.
The good news is that AKS includes cost-management features. One of these is the previously mentioned autoscaler. At peak traffic, it allows more nodes but at other times it will only use the resources needed. Azure also gives you discounts on reserved instances and virtual machines. You can use these to cut down your e-commerce platform costs as well.
Enhancing Security and Compliance for E-Commerce Platforms on Azure Kubernetes Services
Data breaches and cyber attacks plague the online world. A report stated that 43% of these online attacks target small businesses. This is why keeping your AKS platform optimized in terms of security is essential.
One approach could be you create a role-based access control using Azure Active Directory. This would allow you to set permissions for each type of user on your website. Network security could also be enhanced by using a firewall to protect against common attacks. Despite this, threats may still slip through so a process of continuously monitoring the platform for threats could be employed. Azure Defender for Kubernetes does this.
Optimizing Performance and Latency for Faster Transactions
The e-commerce sector is quite competitive and customer satisfaction needs to be top-notch to retain and attract more users. Online shoppers expect near-instant response times from the apps and sites they use. More than half of users would abandon a site if the page took more than 3 seconds to load. Moreover, Amazon found that a 100ms delay costs that 1% in sales.
To ensure your AKS platform is optimized for both speed and operability, you should start by configuring the AKS clusters. This has to do with choosing the right VM sizes for your platform and it’s based on the requirements needed. Additionally, a Content Delivery Network could also be integrated which would reduce distance between users and the server. For response times, Azure Cache provides a solution by caching the frequently accessed data.
Conclusion
If you wish to successfully run an e-commerce platform powered by Azure Kubernetes Services, you need to keep these optimization tips in mind.
With more and more online selling sites being opened, the competition has increased. To stay ahead of the race, it’s important to give the consumers the best performance so they can have a smoother experience.
Last Updated 2 weeks ago
