Planning the Upgrade

Upgrading hardware for a cloud infrastructure isn’t just about replacing old with new; it’s about making strategic choices to meet both current and future demands. Our team began by evaluating potential server vendors, comparing offerings, and selecting the best fit for our needs.

We prioritized top-tier SSDs for blazing-fast storage, high-performance AMD CPUs for efficient computing, and fast networking solutions to handle the heavy demands of a modern cloud environment. After careful consideration, we finalized our choices, confident they would form a rock-solid foundation for Natron Cloud.

Testing the New Hardware: A Weekend Experiment

Once the hardware arrived, the real work began. We scheduled initial testing over the weekend in our office, primarily because the servers were loud 🔊 , and we had limited office space to accommodate them during regular working hours.

The new servers were rigorously tested for performance and reliability. From stress-testing workloads to fine-tuning configurations, we ensured that everything met our standards before moving forward.

Installing the Hardware in the Data Center

With testing complete, we headed to the data center to install the new hardware. Each server was mounted, connected, and powered up step by step.

Using our automation tools and pre-set configurations, we made sure everything integrated smoothly with our existing setup.

Setup and configuration of the hardware

With the hardware successfully installed, the next step was to configure it to align with our standards and integrate it into our cloud infrastructure.

Installing Our Standard Tooling: Proxmox VE

We began by installing Proxmox VE together with Ceph as a storage solution, our trusted platform for managing virtual environments. Proxmox VE offers a powerful and flexible solution for virtualization, and it’s a cornerstone of our infrastructure.

If you're curious about why we rely on Proxmox and how we use it at Natron Tech, check out our detailed blog post: Behind the Scenes: How Natron Powers Its Infrastructure with Proxmox.

Workload migration

Installation complete — time to migrate our first workloads. We moved workloads gradually, always monitoring performance and checking system metrics along the way. By the end, everything was running smoothly on our new, cutting-edge hardware, ready for future demands.

Before the upgrade, the CPU utilization of our existing infrastructure consistently spiked between 60% and 70%, with an average usage of approximately 40%. Following the migration to the new hardware, CPU utilization has significantly decreased to around 10%, leaving a lot of capacity to accommodate new customers and support future growth.

Phasing Out the Old: A Sustainable Approach

After successfully migrating all workloads to the new servers, we turned our attention to the decommissioning of the old HPE ProLiant hardware. Rather than letting this equipment go to waste, we repurposed them as part of our backup infrastructure.

The retired servers now work in tandem with Proxmox Backup Server, a trusted solution that allows us to create efficient, deduplicated backups of our virtual machines and container data. By integrating this hardware into our backup strategy, we not only extend its lifecycle but also enhance our overall redundancy and disaster recovery capabilities.

Conclusion

This upgrade, from choosing the right hardware to setting it up and replacing the old servers, was planned carefully over five months. With the new hardware in place, Natron Cloud is ready for the future. We now have more capacity, better performance, and can easily scale to welcome new customers.

These improvements directly enhance the experience for our customers, providing faster and more reliable services without increasing costs. By investing in better infrastructure while keeping pricing stable, we remain committed to delivering excellent value. With stronger backups using Proxmox Backup Server, our setup is now even more reliable and secure.

Curious about our process or technology? Let us know—we’re happy to explore topics that interest you and share insights into our journey and tools!