Empowering Western Australia's education and training through enterprise web support.
Built in Drupal 9
The Client
The Department of Training and Workforce Development (DTWD) manages Western Australia’s investment in Technical and Further Education (TAFE). They work with individuals, employers, business and industry, and provide leadership in training and workforce development.
The DTDW have a suite of 12 public-facing Drupal websites, including the Department of Training, Training and Skills Boards, and full-time Course Guides, which provide services to over 120,000 students. These websites are managed by the Digital Services Team (DST) which is DTWD’s in-house team of Drupal specialists.
Full Stack Drupal Development, Infrastructure Management and Expert Guidance.
For almost a decade, Doghouse Agency has transitioned from providing DTWD with hosting services to delivering comprehensive full stack development and infrastructure management to support their internal team.
With its multidisciplinary team, Doghouse is equipped to offer guidance and expert advice on best practice Drupal development, while assisting DTWD in establishing and maintaining best practice internal processes.
Throughout the lifecycle of website development - from conception to go-live and beyond - Doghouse stands as a reliable support team for DST developers. They provide assistance at crucial stages and whenever the DST team encounters issues beyond their internal resolution capacity.
Doghouse also provides enhancements to the software application layer, along with technical advice and strategic direction. This enables the DST to undertake more complex work in-house with the ability to leverage outside resources when required.
Additional Services
In addition to the software application layer, Doghouse also manages the infrastructure and hosting layer for the DST team, including:
- 24x7 support
- Monitoring
- HA AWS hosting
- Configuring new hosting environments
- Shared management of go-live processes
Meeting high demand with high availability: Scaling DTWD's digital infrastructure for unparalleled performance.
DTWD Digital Infrastructure Upgrade
In response to the unprecedented surge in web traffic, particularly stemming from multiple announcements by Premier Mark McGowan on free TAFE courses to address the state's skill shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic, Doghouse embarked on a significant upgrade of the DTWD's digital infrastructure. The upgrade entailed a transition to a Kubernetes high-availability (HA) cluster, designed to efficiently handle substantial increases in user demand.
The HA cluster brings numerous benefits including automatic failover and on-demand scaling of web nodes. The failover mechanism ensures that in the unlikely event of a node failure, the load is automatically redistributed to other functioning nodes ultimatley preventing service disruption.
On the other hand, the scalability feature allows the infrastructure to dynamically respond to varying traffic loads by adjusting the number of web nodes in operation. This is particularly useful in managing huge traffic spikes triggered by public statewide announcements.
The robust architecture of the new system takes full advantage of multiple AWS zones. By distributing the workload across multiple geographically separated data centers, the system reduces the risk of single-point failures and enhances overall service availability.
Designed to cater to an incredibly high volume of traffic, the new Kubernetes cluster can handle up to 5000 hits per second. This high-performance setup ensures the DTWD's suite of websites can consistently provide a smooth user experience, even under the most demanding conditions.
- High-Availability Kubernetes Cluster: Designed to handle significant increases in demand and traffic.
- Automatic Failover: Ensures service continuity by automatically redistributing load during node failures.
- Scalability: Dynamically adjusts the number of web nodes in response to varying traffic loads.
- Multiple AWS Zones: Enhances resilience and fault tolerance by distributing workload across multiple geographically separated data centers.
- High-Performance Setup: Capable of handling up to 5000 hits per second, ensuring a smooth user experience under all conditions.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) Integration: Significantly reduces server load and enhances website performance by caching and distributing content across a network of fast, geographically diverse servers.
Technical Challenges Overcome
Navigating the containerisation of DWDT's websites presented varied technical complexities. Doghouse adopted a poly-site approach, allowing each website to operate independently and scale individually boosting the overall performance.
Perfecting the caching strategy was also challenging, requiring a delicate balance between minimising server load and ensuring cache accuracy. After rigorous testing, an optimal caching score was achieved.
Impressive Outcomes
Transitioning to the new infrastructure has led to consistent performance and scalability during high-traffic periods.
Doghouse's partnership with DST fostered a collaborative atmosphere, empowering DST to enhance their website infrastructure, adhere to best software practices, and cultivate a culture of excellence.
Consistent performance and scalability for DTWDS's 12 Drupal websites
Key services
- Centralised management of 12 public facing Drupal websites
- Auto-scaling hosting built to support high load during registration days and public sector announcements. ~ 65M Requests per month
- Quality assurance as a service, auditing their internal team’s code base
- Enterprise application SLA’s with 24x7 coverage
- Provide a service highly configurable through code allowing for the flexibility required by the fast-paced application development
- Provide advice on best practices and recommendations on how to best implement new technologies
- Guide application improvements based on application and infrastructure monitoring
