Holiday traffic or just business as usual?

November and December—the months of frenzy, the season of spikes—arrive every year with companies proclaiming their triumphs over billions of API calls. They rise, they declare and they clamor for attention.

But not for us.

At Contentstack, the holiday season isn’t a spectacle; it’s part of the rhythm we’ve mastered. With 60.2 billion API calls served in November 2024 alone—a 40 % increase year over year—we’ve not just managed the season; we’ve optimized it.

And yet, the numbers only tell part of the story. They don’t capture the preparation, the precision and the care that go into delivering a seamless digital experience—not just during the holidays but all year round. 

So, how did we achieve this? Let’s break it down.

Preparation: The calm before the surge

1. Daily monitoring and query optimization

Every battle is won before it’s fought. Daily performance metrics, particularly slow database queries, API latency and cache misses, are scrutinized to ensure no surprises during peak traffic.

• Automated tools track query performance.

• Proactive measures like indexing, optimized query plans and CDN caching keep our response times razor-sharp.

2. Load testing for surges

Forecasting without testing? That’s wishful thinking. Instead, we simulate 10x last year’s traffic levels to identify weak spots before they impact users.

• Stress-testing application components

• Refining the system for resilience under pressure

3. Smarter scaling strategies

Scalability isn’t just about throwing more CPUs and memory at the problem. We focus on:

• Queue-based scaling for precise traffic management

• Request-driven scaling to align resources with real-time demand

4. Vendor coordination: Teamwork in action

No system stands alone. We ensure extended support and integration across CDNs, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) and third-party services by:

• Reviewing SLAs

• Validating failover setups across multi-cloud environments

• Testing CDN caching rules for peak efficiency

5. Observability: Eyes Everywhere

Even the best-laid plans can face challenges. Real-time observability ensures:

• Instant issue resolution

• Dashboards tracking API latency, error rates and throughput

• SLO monitoring to keep every service accountable

During the season: Vigilance in action

1. Round-the-clock monitoring

Preparation means little without sharp execution. To uphold our Care without Compromise promise, our cross-functional teams—DevOps, DB admins and app engineers—work in shifts to ensure the smooth operation of systems. 

2. Enhanced system checks

In peak periods, we quadruple our vigilance, monitoring the systems every minute and reviewing system stats every four hours:

• Application metrics: API response times, error rates and user activity

• Infrastructure metrics: CPU utilization, memory usage, disk I/O

Simultaneously, zooming in and out of the application and infrastructure metrics provides us with insights and trend information about the application response times, latencies and overall status of the infrastructure. 

Based on this information, the teams ensure there is enough capacity to meet performance benchmarks tracked through SLOs.

The result: Seamless digital experiences

This blend of meticulous preparation and vigilant execution enables us to deliver uninterrupted, flawless service—not just during the holidays but every day.

We don’t chase moments of glory. We analyze, plan, and create systems that deliver consistency and excellence beyond expectations. Like every other, this holiday season is business as usual for us—with an extra helping of gratitude.