Qovery changed everything for us. It's logical, productive, and stress-free, offering the benefits of Kubernetes without requiring expertise!

1. Introduction

Hi Mathieu, can you tell me about your role and main responsibilities at HR Rain?

Certainly. As the lead developer at HD Rain, my primary responsibilities involve overseeing our technical projects, particularly leading engineering efforts in new initiatives. I work closely with the development teams to ensure that our technological solutions align with our business goals and deliver optimal performance and reliability. Additionally, I'm responsible for managing our infrastructure and deployment processes to maintain efficiency and scalability.

2. Overview

Before implementing Qovery, what was HD Rain’s infrastructure and deployment setup like?

Initially, we relied on GitLab CI/CD to create Docker images and stored them in GitLab container registries. Our frontend apps were deployed on Clever Cloud, while all backend apps, databases (including Postgres and Victoria Metrics), Kafka, and monitoring services were managed in two Docker Swarm clusters (preprod + prod) on OVH public cloud. This setup provided some level of automation but required manual intervention for deployment and maintenance tasks, leading to complexity and potential bottlenecks.

3. Challenges

Can you share the specific challenges or pain points you were facing in your development and deployment processes?

Managing our deployment tools proved complex, especially without a dedicated DevOps resource. The system setup was heavily reliant on the developer, making it challenging to manage after they left the company. Deployments were stressful, and ensuring that all developers could deploy changes efficiently would have taken considerable time. Additionally, scaling our infrastructure to meet growing demand posed challenges, as manual configurations were prone to errors and inconsistencies.

4. Qovery Implementation

How has Qovery contributed to streamlining and automating your deployment process?

Thanks to Qovery, our system is now more manageable and lightweight. We've transitioned to managed services like Kafka (Aiven), QuestDB Cloud, and Postgres (Scaleway). With Qovery managing our Scaleway clusters, we've simplified our deployment process significantly. Qovery's intuitive interface and seamless integration with GitLab CI/CD have enabled us to automate deployment workflows, reducing manual intervention and ensuring consistency across environments. This has freed up valuable time for our developers to focus on innovation and product development rather than infrastructure management.

Can you report any improvements running Qovery for your development workflow?

Certainly. We've already experienced improvements in our development workflow. With Qovery, our stack is easier to manage and more flexible. Developers can deploy apps stress-free, leading to more frequent deployments and improved productivity. Also, Qovery's monitoring and alerting capabilities have enhanced our ability to identify and address issues proactively, minimizing downtime and improving overall system reliability.

5. Results and Outcomes

Any measurable outcomes, such as time savings, cost reduction, or increased developer productivity?

Although there's been a cost increase due to managed services, we've saved valuable developer time by offloading Ops work. Our productivity, from merge request to deployment has significantly improved. We anticipate further gains in efficiency and cost-effectiveness as we continue to optimize our deployment processes and leverage Qovery's features more extensively.

6. Fina World

If you can tell me one sentence regarding your overall experience with Qovery?

Qovery changed everything for us. The entire dev team loves working with it as it's logical, productive, and stress-free, offering the benefits of Kubernetes without requiring expertise. We're excited to see how Qovery will continue to support our growth and innovation efforts in the future.