Robust data protection and disaster recovery in banking with migration to AWS

N-iX began by conducting a thorough Discovery Phase to facilitate the adoption of the scalable, resilient, and highly secure AWS cloud platform. We have also utilized the AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) —a framework developed to help businesses quickly and efficiently complete their transition to the cloud. The Program outlines three key phases —Assess, Mobilize, and Migrate and Modernize. As part of the Mobilize phase, we conducted a Well-Architected Review of the client’s infrastructure to ensure security, sustainability, cost-effectiveness, and operational excellence. We have delivered a comprehensive report of all high-risk issues that were identified during the review. Moreover, we also prioritized and provided recommendations for resolving those issues.

N-iX closely collaborated with the client to set up the infrastructure on AWS. To help the customer prepare for the cloud migration, we built a production-ready compliant landing zone in AWS and established infrastructure-as-code. Also, we have implemented network architecture to address strict requirements for network security, traffic inspection, perimeter security, and handling secure connections to third-party services.

In particular, we have deployed the VMware Cloud on AWS and set up the infrastructure there, so the client can easily replicate their virtual machines from on-premises data centers to the cloud. We have set up the network infrastructure to enable the client to use third-party security tools, such as Cisco Firewall. We have also set up AWS Direct Connect Gateway to provide dedicated network connections from on-premises data centers through AWS Transit Gateway to AWS, and provisioned hosts with dedicated instances on them.

Additionally, N-iX has assisted with arranging storage spaces within the MySQL database in AWS to handle vast amounts of data. Our DevOps engineers allocated over 0.5 PB of disk space to AWS. We are responsible for maintaining highly powerful servers in AWS, each comprising 448 CPUs with 6 TB of RAM.

To ensure high instance performance and Input/Output Operations per second (IOPS), we set up Raid 0, a data storage virtualization technology, which includes 200 TB for each database server.

Furthermore, we set up the disaster recovery plan and enabled the customer to restore the data by using AWS S3. This protects the customer’s critical data and ensures business continuity in case of a disaster.

We provisioned the virtual machines, which were further transferred by the customer to their Active Directory located in the VMware Cloud on AWS. Finally, we used Terraform for automating and managing the provisioning of infrastructure and resources in a declarative and version-controlled manner.

N-iX helped the client design and implement an effective disaster recovery strategy, helping the client achieve their goals, namely:

• Prepare for disaster scenarios by replicating data from on-premises to AWS, creating backup storage that prevents data loss;
• Establish efficient data storage by acquiring a high-volume disk space within the MySQL database in AWS;
• Protect sensitive customer data from unauthorized access and cyber threats with advanced security features and protocols.