The Conqueror Challenges runs virtual fitness challenges for people and corporate wellness programs. Users sign up online, log workouts in an app, and earn real medals. The app has 200K monthly active users and has shipped more than one million medals. It has to stay up when demand jumps without warning. When The Conqueror outgrew its databases in New Zealand, it turned to Percona. The goals: move to AWS, migrate off MariaDB, and cover 13 database nodes around the clock.
For CTO Andrew Clemett, the cloud migration had one requirement: it had to be done exactly right.
Percona delivered for The Conqueror:
The Conqueror Challenges
Health & Fitness Software
100+
Percona ExpertOps, Percona Expert Consulting and Services, Percona Server for MySQL, Percona XtraDB Cluster (PXC)
MySQL
The Conqueror runs e-commerce sites and a mobile app. In the app, users record workouts, learn about places on their route, and hit their goals. Each customer's data passes through both, so it has to be protected in more than one place.
Traffic is hard to predict. A challenge launch can take concurrent users from 5,000 to 100,000 with little warning, and Black Friday and New Year keep the platform running hot for days.
The existing setup couldn't keep pace. The databases sat on servers in New Zealand, far from most customers, with little room to scale. And as a small team, The Conqueror needed 24/7 database cover without hiring someone to watch them overnight.
Clemett knew Percona as a database specialist for larger companies. A smaller provider was an option, but he wanted the AWS move done exactly right. Round-the-clock support also weighed heavily. And Percona software gave the team open source databases with no license fees or lock-in.
Percona Expert Consulting and Services planned the AWS migration. First, the team confirmed the move was right. Then it checked that each environment was sized for the users the business expected. Percona set up networking and security in AWS and added dynamic scaling and load balancing. The deployment grew to 13 database nodes, including a Galera-based cluster now running on PXC.
As part of The Conqueror's longer-term plans, Percona ExpertOps then migrated the databases off MariaDB. The e-commerce sites moved to Percona Server for MySQL and the app moved to PXC. On the MariaDB version The Conqueror ran, Percona Server for MySQL worked as a drop-in replacement. The changeover caused little disruption.
Percona ExpertOps now monitors and supports The Conqueror's 13 database nodes 24/7. Percona's change management process keeps planned work controlled. A dedicated Service Delivery Manager keeps things moving when the team needs it.
Clemett shared, "We're a small team, so having Percona on board 24/7 means I don't have to employ someone or stay up 24 hours a day myself. When we moved off local hosting into the public cloud at AWS, I wanted it done exactly right, and I trusted Percona to do that. There are two great parts of working with Percona. One is the experience they have and the processes they follow to make sure things get done correctly, from planning through to change management. The other is that we're working with real people who have our back and move things forward when we need it."
The result is a database platform that keeps up with The Conqueror's growth instead of holding it back.
Results
The Conqueror swapped locally hosted databases in New Zealand for an AWS environment that scales. It runs Percona Server for MySQL and PXC, backed by 24/7 Percona ExpertOps. Key outcomes included:
Percona Products and Services Used:
The Conqueror Challenges is a healthy-lifestyle start-up with a community of more than two million people in over 100 countries. It funds conservation as people move: for every 20% of a challenge completed, it plants a tree and recycles ten plastic bottles. To date, it has planted more than 14.8 million trees and stopped the equivalent of 61.4 million bottles from reaching the ocean.
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