As a DevOps team, our main use case for Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) is as a database access layer between our applications and backend databases, with the main objective of improving database performance and handling the increased pressure on the primary database without making changes to the application code. It also provides us with distributed query caching that is SQL-aware, read-write splitting connection and pooling, essentially acting as a database which is vendor-neutral and supports platforms such as Oracle and DB2, so that is our major use case.
Addressed database bottlenecks and has improved caching, read traffic routing, and connection pooling
What is our primary use case?
What is most valuable?
Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) has made a noticeable difference for our team by using caching in the project to remove repeated queries from the database depth, while read-write splitting allows us to do database replicas more effectively. Connection pooling also helps our teams when applications generate a large number of short-lived database connections.
In our environment, we have seen 30 to 40% lower database CPU utilization on the workload benefiting from the caching, with around 35 to 40% average application response time.
The best features Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) offers include read-write splitting that routes read workloads to replicas while maintaining consistency for write operations, distributed query caching that has helped us reduce repetitive database queries reaching the underlying database, and connection pooling which assists us in managing connection spikes without requiring application-side connection management.
Additionally, active proxy auto-scaling is very important to maintain availability as traffic increases.
The impact of the auto-scaling feature on our operations is notable, as connection pooling has helped us lower the load, with 30 to 40% lower database utilization due to the splitting and pooling concept, and around 35 to 40% average application response time.
Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) has positively impacted our organization in many ways, with key outcomes such as saving around 40 to 45% for cacheable workloads, improving response times by around 35% for database-heavy transactions with read or write queries, achieving 35 to 40 hours per month saved in database performance troubleshooting and manual scaling activities, and saving approximately 500 hours annually from our engineering team. This makes a significant difference, alongside roughly 30% reduction in our database infrastructure growth requirements where the proxy was most effective.
What needs improvement?
I do not feel there is a problem we have faced with Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) so far, but if I had to mention one experience that could be improved, it would be the routing policies. Other problems are still manageable, and there are no other significant issues.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) in the organization for the last two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) is definitely a stable solution, and we have not faced any glitches or proxy disconnections within our networks.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) is definitely a scalable product. We have an enterprise-level architecture managing over 1 million users at a time without any downtime or challenges while scaling up and down, making scaling not a problem for us.
How are customer service and support?
Customer support for Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) is excellent. We had one interaction six months back that was resolved quickly within 30 to 40 minutes, so I would rate it a 10 out of 10 for customer support.
How was the initial setup?
Deploying Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) in our environment was straightforward with no complexity involved in the deployment process, and it was very smooth, especially since the architecture does not require any application or database changes.
What about the implementation team?
Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM) integrates seamlessly with other AWS services we use, ensuring that every integration is smooth with no challenges.
What was our ROI?
I chose five as my rating due to the excellent and exceptional ROI we have seen so far.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of pricing, setup cost, and licensing, licensing is usage-based with reasonably low costs. The AWS Marketplace pricing is consumption-based, and currently, we are using a pay-as-you-go model built on an hourly basis, with the calculation being more than just the proxy license.
Regarding the metering and billing experience for Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM), we received it through usage-based pricing via the AWS Marketplace, since it is a contract-based option, and we utilized a pay-as-you-go model that was easy to manage.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We evaluated other options before choosing Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM), which included ProxySQL, PgBouncer, AWS RDS Proxy, and HAProxy.
What other advice do I have?
For anyone looking into using Heimdall Proxy Enterprise Edition (ARM), my advice is to consider it as an exceptional and strong enterprise edition proxy that can easily address database bottlenecks and effectively manage read traffic and connection management issues. I gave this product a rating of 5 out of 5.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Public Cloud
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
