With guidance from Visionnaire, Fertipar Paraná promoted evolutionary improvements in an application
Client
Fertipar Paraná
Area
Fertilizers
Problem
Fertipar Paraná had already mapped problems in a Java application running on two WildFly application
servers. It was necessary, according to the analysis made, to promote four improvements, that is, to evolve a system with
new functionalities, optimizations and resources according to the identified needs.
Solution
Visionnaire promoted the execution of the four improvement points in partnership with Fertipar Paraná
employees, within the company's headquarters, and with the aim of development mentoring. Fertipar Paraná was successful
and promoted such improvements in its application.
Results
With the consultancy performed by Visionnaire, Fertipar Paraná was successful and promoted improvements
in its Java application running on two WildFly application servers. The four points for improvement previously raised by Fertipar
Paraná were carried out through specialized consulting promoted by Visionnaire. All four points were fulfilled, resulting
in a remarkable evolution of the company's application.
Technologies
For the Load Balance point, Visionnaire's first suggestion was to use the WildFly
application server settings used by Fertipar Paraná together with DNS settings so as not to need to use the fixed IP
address in the URLs. However, the possibility of resorting to both hardware and software solutions remained open.
Regarding the Microservices Modules for Database point, the first recommendation was to configure the environment using the existing tools, such as WildFly. It was also planned to use commercial solutions such as Confluent, Istio.io, Payara, Microprofile.io, Kontena and Claudia.JS. Visionnaire, using its extensive experience in Node.JS, would also be able to assist Fertipar in a possible future architecture migration to a 100% microservices philosophy.
Still other possibilities were raised, for example the use of systems such as Apigee and Apiary, in addition to Lambda technology, heavily used in Amazon Web Services. Since the database being used by Fertipar Paraná is Oracle, another possibility raised was to use the Apiary and Wercker solutions, both belonging to that company.
For the Log Control point, the logging solution used by Fertipar Paraná is Log4J, from Apache. Visionnaire has strong experience with Log4J, as in almost all projects where we use JEE, we use said technology. At this point, a consultancy was carried out in order to configure and guide the best practices in the use of Log4J. But the market for logging platforms and tools has also evolved a lot in recent years, and Visionnaire is always open to using solutions such as Scalyr, InfluxData, Moesif, LogPacker, Coralogix, Logentries, Logz.io, Papertrail, LogDNA, Graylog.
For the HTTP/HTTPS Request Cache point, the most used and well-known tool on the market is Varnish Cache. Visionnaire has experience with Varnish as it is used on our own website. We also suggest using Fertipar's own existing environment, with WildFly configured in an integrated way with Varnish. There are also other market tools and powerful solutions in the cloud, such as CloudFlare, which, in addition to caching, implements DNS solutions and security solutions against cyber-attacks.
Detailed Problem
Fertipar Paraná is the pioneer of Grupo Fertipar, which today is comprised of 11 companies
located in the main agricultural centers in Brazil, offering different types of fertilizers for agribusiness. The company
had already mapped issues in a Java application running on two WildFly application servers.
It was necessary, according to the analysis made, to promote four improvements: Load Balance (meaning a tool for improving load balancing of application servers), Microservices Modules for Database (meaning a tool for managing connections with databases), Log Control (meaning a tool for generating and controlling application logs on application servers) and HTTP/HTTPS Request Cache (meaning a tool to provide a cache of HTTP/HTTPS requests from applications in order to increase performance and speed up user access to applications).
In other words, it was a case of promoting improvements, that is, evolving a system with new functionalities, optimizations and resources according to the identified needs. Promoting the evolving maintenance of a system is essential to ensure the smooth running of any enterprise.
Detailed Solution
Visionnaire promoted the execution of the four improvement points in partnership with Fertipar
Paraná employees, within the company's headquarters, and with the aim of development mentoring. To know:
- Load Balance: it's about efficiently distributing network traffic between back-end servers. Think of a popular, heavily visited website. At the same time, thousands (if not millions) of users are accessing the page. Balancing the load on these servers means distributing the connection demands between them so that none are overloaded.
- Microservices Modules for Database: software can be developed following the microservices approach. In this way, a software is the result of several independent services that communicate with each other. Such an approach makes it possible for software to be quickly innovated and improved with new features. In this case, the focus was on the use of microservices for the database.
- Log Control: having a good logging solution is paramount for a system to run fully. It is also essential to know what is happening while the system is running, and also helps to understand errors when they happen. Visionnaire proposed a consultancy with the aim of guiding for best practices when using a logging tool.
- HTTP/HTTPS Request Cache: an HTTP cache is the first line of defense against cyber-attacks. For this consultancy, the profile of the professional was support infrastructure.
Brochure
Case Brochure 
Presentation
Case Presentation
