Infrastructure Layer

The Infrastructure Layer forms the foundational backbone of Bragabot’s architecture, providing the essential cloud resources and network configurations that support the platform’s operations. This layer is responsible for managing the underlying infrastructure on which Bragabot’s services are deployed, including virtual networks, computing resources, load balancers, and storage solutions. By leveraging AWS cloud services and Firebase for storage, the Infrastructure Layer ensures that Bragabot is scalable, secure, and highly available.

Components and Functionality of the Infrastructure Layer

1. Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

• Role and Functionality: The Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) is the core networking component of Bragabot’s infrastructure in AWS. It provides an isolated virtual network where all AWS resources, such as EC2 instances and Kubernetes clusters, are deployed. The VPC ensures secure communication between resources and controls access to the internet.

• Subnets: The VPC is divided into multiple subnets, including Public Subnets and Private Subnets. Public Subnets host resources that need direct access to the internet, such as the Elastic Load Balancer (ELB), while Private Subnets are used for internal resources like EC2 instances and databases, which are not exposed to the public internet.

• Route Tables: The VPC uses route tables to direct traffic between subnets and to the internet. Public Subnets have routes to the Internet Gateway, while Private Subnets use NAT Gateways for outbound internet access, ensuring that internal resources remain secure.

2. Internet Gateway and NAT Gateway

• Internet Gateway: The Internet Gateway allows communication between resources in the Public Subnet and the internet. It provides a pathway for incoming and outgoing internet traffic to reach Bragabot’s public-facing services, such as the ELB.

• NAT Gateway: The NAT (Network Address Translation) Gateway enables resources in the Private Subnet to access the internet for updates, API requests, and other tasks without exposing them directly to incoming internet traffic. This ensures that sensitive resources remain protected while still being able to communicate with external services.

3. Elastic Load Balancer (ELB)

• Role and Functionality: The Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) distributes incoming application traffic across multiple EC2 instances or Kubernetes Pods, ensuring high availability and fault tolerance. The ELB sits in the Public Subnet and serves as the first point of contact for incoming client requests.

• Health Checks: The ELB continuously monitors the health of the pods. If an instance fails a health check, the ELB automatically reroutes traffic to healthy instances, ensuring uninterrupted service.

• SSL Termination: The ELB handles SSL termination, decrypting incoming HTTPS requests and forwarding them to backend services over HTTP. This offloads the SSL processing from the backend services, improving their performance.

4. EC2 Instances

• Role and Functionality: EC2 instances are the virtual machines that host Bragabot’s Docker containers and other necessary services within the Private Subnet. These instances are managed by Kubernetes, which deploys and scales the containers based on demand.

• Instance Types: Bragabot uses a variety of EC2 instance types based on the specific requirements of each service, balancing cost and performance. For example, compute-intensive services uses instances optimized for CPU performance, while storage-heavy services uses instances with high I/O throughput.

• Auto-Scaling: EC2 instances are part of an auto-scaling group that automatically adjusts the number of running instances based on load. This ensures that Bragabot can handle varying traffic levels while optimizing resource usage and cost.

5. Kubernetes Cluster (Managed in EC2 Instances)

• Role and Functionality: The Kubernetes cluster orchestrates the deployment, scaling, and management of Bragabot’s microservices, which run in Docker containers on EC2 instances. The cluster is responsible for ensuring that services are highly available, scalable, and resilient to failures.

• Node Management: The cluster consists of a set of nodes (EC2 instances) that host the containers. Kubernetes manages the lifecycle of these nodes, ensuring that they are healthy and optimally utilized. It also handles the deployment of Pods across the nodes, balancing the load to prevent any single node from becoming a bottleneck.

• Networking: Kubernetes uses a virtual network overlay to enable communication between Pods, services, and external clients. It integrates with the VPC’s networking features to provide secure and efficient communication between all components of Bragabot.

6. Security and Compliance

• Security Groups: Security Groups act as virtual firewalls for EC2 instances, controlling inbound and outbound traffic based on defined rules. They ensure that only legitimate traffic reaches Bragabot’s resources, protecting the system from unauthorized access and attacks.

• Network ACLs (Access Control Lists): Network ACLs provide an additional layer of security at the subnet level, controlling traffic to and from specific subnets within the VPC. This helps enforce security policies and isolate different parts of the infrastructure as needed.

• IAM Roles and Policies: AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles and policies are used to manage permissions and access controls across the Infrastructure Layer. This ensures that only authorized team members and services can access sensitive resources, maintaining the security and integrity of Bragabot’s operations.

• Compliance: The Infrastructure Layer is designed to comply with relevant data protection regulations, such as GDPR, by implementing secure storage practices, data encryption, and access controls. Regular audits and security assessments are conducted to ensure ongoing compliance.

7. Monitoring and Logging

• Infrastructure Monitoring: AWS CloudWatch is used to monitor the health and performance of infrastructure components, such as EC2 instances, ELBs, and network traffic. Metrics like CPU usage, disk I/O, and network latency are continuously tracked to ensure optimal performance.

• Logging: All activities within the Infrastructure Layer are logged and aggregated using AWS CloudTrail and the ELK Stack (Elasticsearch, Logstash, Kibana). This provides a comprehensive view of system activities, helping administrators identify issues, track changes, and maintain an audit trail.

• Alerts and Notifications: Alerts are configured to notify us of critical events, such as high CPU usage, instance failures, or network anomalies. These alerts help ensure that any potential issues are addressed promptly to maintain system stability and availability.

8. Scalability and High Availability

• Elasticity: The Infrastructure Layer is designed to be elastic, automatically scaling resources up or down based on demand. This includes scaling EC2 instances within auto-scaling groups, adjusting load balancer capacity, and leveraging Firebase’s auto-scaling storage capabilities.

• Multi-AZ Deployment: Bragabot’s infrastructure is deployed across multiple Availability Zones (AZs) within AWS. This multi-AZ deployment ensures that the platform remains available even if one AZ experiences an outage, providing fault tolerance and disaster recovery capabilities.

• Backup and Disaster Recovery: Regular backups of critical infrastructure components, such as databases and storage volumes, are taken to ensure data can be restored in the event of a failure. Disaster recovery plans are in place to minimize downtime and data loss, ensuring that Bragabot can quickly recover from any major incidents.

The Infrastructure Layer is the foundation of Bragabot’s architecture, providing the cloud resources, networking capabilities, and storage solutions necessary to support the platform’s operations. Bragabot ensures that its infrastructure is scalable, secure, and highly available. The Infrastructure Layer’s robust design, including its use of VPC, EC2 instances, ELB, and Kubernetes, allows Bragabot to deliver a reliable and performant platform that can adapt to changing demands and maintain operational excellence.