Allbirds

Data protection and disaster recovery

• To minimize data loss, we suggested introducing appropriate backup strategies for EC2 instances. In addition, we encrypted unencrypted volumes to protect data. Furthermore, HANA Cockpit was installed for overall HANA database management, especially leveraging the scheduling of backups. A HANA replication server was also set up on Production to minimize disaster recovery time by using a secondary site. Once set up, multiple disaster recovery tests ‒ using HANA point-in-time recovery and HANA replication ‒ were carried out.

Performance

• By adhering to AWS best practices for SAP and implementing the rightsizing recommendations from Compute Optimizer, we were successful in eliminating the performance bottlenecks associated with EC2 Production workloads.
• We upgraded the EBS volumes from gp2 to gp3, ensuring better price performance.
• On inspection with SAP Service Preparation checks, many SAP parameters were not conducive to optimum performance. With the assistance of SAP Early Watch recommendations, various SAP parameters were adjusted (such as SWAP occurrences, the optimum number of work processes) to cut long CPU run times.

Monitoring and governance

• As part of the process of enhancing infrastructure monitoring and governance, we enabled Amazon CloudWatch. This allows Allbirds to monitor all servers in detail and to receive SNS-based alarm notifications for CPU, memory, and disk usage. In addition, anomaly detection using CloudWatch was used to reduce false positive memory alerts of HANA systems.
• To monitor SAP HANA parameters closely, we evaluated integration with Datadog monitoring to provide machine learning-based intelligent monitoring features, like anomaly detection and prediction.
• We leveraged Amazon CloudTrail for monitoring and tracking account activities within Allbirds’ AWS environment.
• We used Icinga to enable the team to monitor the SAP systems and the HANA DB servers (disk space, memory usage, CPU usage) and check if all systems are up and running. Setting up certain thresholds allowed the team to receive alerts automatically via Client Central’s incident management facility. Furthermore, an EPI-USE-developed innovation, SAP Automatic Daily Checks, has been used to run on a daily basis and report any anomalies.

Cost optimization

• We observed that the increase in storage associated with Amazon EFS was contributing significantly to costs. By incorporating well-defined life cycle management policies, we could automate the transfer of infrequentlyaccessed data to EFS-IA. We switched from EFS-only backup to EFS- and S3-based backup, achieving substantial cost savings (approximately 120 percent decrease in EFS costs).

Managed Services

• As a Managed Services provider, we have always been proactive in performing AWS Well-Architected Reviews for Allbirds. Moreover, we conduct monthly account audits to ensure compliance with AWS best practices. We are available to them 24/7, providing personalized technical support for their SAP workloads and ensuring business continuity.
• Managed Services takes a proactive approach, and the innovations developed from within AWS and EPI-USE are our key differentiators (for example, Automated Transports developed by EPI-USE to automate the transport change management process). At Allbirds, this process uses workflow requests and approvals in Client Central to initiate a bot to effect the transports in the SAP system, with no or little human intervention.

Billing-as-a-Service

• As an extension to our Managed Services, we also provide Allbirds with Billing-as-a-Service, providing valuable insights into AWS costs and usage. This service includes customized, easy-to-understand AWS monthly cost reports. Our dedicated team can assist with cost and billing queries, ensuring transparency of Allbirds’ infrastructure costs.

“EPI-USE has been an awesome partner. They quickly identified a number of opportunities to both improve our overall hosting level of service while at the same time significantly reduce our monthly AWS hosting costs.”

“Allbirds began using EPI-USE Labs for SAP Basis support in 2022. Since then, their team has been instrumental in improving the performance and reliability of our SAP systems. They’re highly responsive and professional, supporting Allbirds with off-hour work whenever necessary. They are proactive with best practice recommendations and always available for support as needed.”