onoja5, a Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer, shares insights from scaling a social commerce platform to over 100K users on VPS, detailing DevOps tactics and planning a multi-phase Azure migration while seeking advice from the Azure community.

Applying DevOps Principles on Lean Infrastructure: Lessons from Scaling to 102,000 Users and Planning Azure Migration

Author: onoja5, Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer and Azure Developer

Overview

This post details the journey of building and scaling a social commerce platform in West Africa to 102,000 users, using core DevOps principles on a single VPS. It offers a practical perspective on infrastructure constraints, cost management, and hands-on optimization. The author is preparing a phased migration to Azure and asks the Azure community for insights on best practices, migration pain points, and operational wisdom.

Current Infrastructure and Stack

  • Platform: Social commerce
  • Region: West Africa
  • Active Users: 102,000
  • Monthly Events: 2 million
  • Uptime: 99.2%
  • Infrastructure: Single VPS
  • Technology Stack: PHP, Laravel, MySQL, Redis
  • DevOps Practices: CI/CD using GitHub Actions, custom monitoring, automated rollbacks, feature flags, automated backups, infrastructure as code, automated testing

Key DevOps Practices Put Into Action

  • CI/CD Pipeline:
    • Weekly deployments with GitHub Actions
    • Zero-downtime deployment and automated health check rollbacks
    • Gradual feature rollout with feature flags
  • Monitoring & Observability:
    • Custom monitoring and performance tracking
    • Real-time alerts and resource usage monitoring
  • Automation:
    • Automated backups, database optimization, image compression, and security updates
  • Infrastructure as Code:
    • Configuration and deployment scripts stored in Git
    • Documented procedures
  • Testing & Quality:
    • Automated test suite, pre-deployment health checks, staging environment
  • Optimization:
    • Significant improvements in endpoint speed, database query performance, and image size reduction

Planned Azure Migration Strategy (2026)

Phase 1: Hybrid (Q1 2026)

  • Use Azure CDN for static assets
  • Azure Blob Storage for images
  • Trial Application Insights for monitoring
  • Maintain compute workload on current VPS

Phase 2: Compute Migration (Q2 2026)

  • Move API to Azure App Service
  • Transition database to Azure Database for MySQL
  • Implement Azure Cache for Redis
  • VPS handles background jobs

Phase 3: Full Azure (Q3 2026)

  • Azure Functions for batch processing
  • Transition fully to managed services
  • Retirement of legacy VPS infrastructure

Specific Migration Challenges & Community Questions

  • Architecture Decisions: App Service vs Functions, managed services selection, MySQL vs Azure SQL, understanding cost-benefit thresholds
  • Cost Management: Strategies for startups to control Azure costs, reserved instances, pay-as-you-go evaluation
  • Migration Strategy: Lift-and-shift vs re-architect, zero-downtime migration for large user base, safe validation and cutover patterns
  • Monitoring & DevOps: Value of Application Insights, Azure DevOps vs GitHub Actions, managing operational burden during migration
  • Development Workflow: Local dev against Azure services, affordable staging, testing without incurring high cloud costs
  • DevOps Practices: Which DevOps processes and learnings on VPS transfer to Azure, what needs adjustment in cloud-native environments

Key Takeaways

  • Lean infrastructure can scale successfully with disciplined DevOps and optimization—even prior to cloud migration
  • Budget limitations shape cloud adoption timing and phased plans
  • Migration to Azure requires reassessment of cost, architecture, and workflow, especially for startups
  • Hands-on experience with DevOps fundamentals provides a strong foundation but must adapt to cloud-native paradigms

Community Call

onoja5 requests Azure community guidance on migration pitfalls, cost management, and adapting DevOps workflows from self-hosted to cloud-native. Insights from practitioners are sought for a real-world perspective beyond certifications.

About the Author

Microsoft Certified DevOps Engineer and Azure Developer, CTO at a rapidly scaling social commerce startup in West Africa. Preparing for phased Azure migration in 2026 after hands-on learning with certified training and practical optimization.

Contact: Reply to this thread to share migration advice and experience.

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