Improving MySQL 8.0 Scale and Security for E-Commerce

Challenge

When Inxpress upgraded the MySQL database from 5.7 to 8.0, they lost the query caching feature and need to find a solution to maintain database performance and scale.

For their e-commerce application, the customer was interested in improving security for user logins as well faster data response times. They wanted to implement a solution with mimimal infrastructure changes.

Solution

The customer choose the Heimdall Database Proxy for query caching and data masking. While Amazon RDS provided the managed services for database maintenance, scalability, and availability; the Heimdall Proxy solution allowed the customer get the most out of these Amazon RDS features without application changes.. Features deployed included:

- SQL Results Caching: Deploying Amazon ElastiCache always requires the customer to modify their application to interface with the ElastiCache API. The Heimdall Proxy automatically and transparently cached and invaidated SQL results without application changes.
- Database Firewall: Block malicious queries and masked sensitive data retrieved from the MySQL database.

AWS Integration:

AWS Secret Manager: Store fixed passwords (such as for service accounts), and the rolling of passwords in conjunction with Amazon RDS, when accounts are configured in Secrets Manager.

AWS Directory Service and Active Directory: Easy management of users in a corporate directory for personal accounts (and service accounts if desired). This was primarily focused on the users connecting through the Heimdall Proxy, and then using the directory to provide guidance on provisioning the user in a JIT (Just-In-Time) manner on the database, simplifying user management.

AWS IAM Identity Center: Enabled users using the Heimdall PAM to do privilege escalation requests in an SSO type setup, simplifying user access for these advanced features.

Amazon CloudWatch: Logging of audit trails, the customer for logs and metrics, allowing for alerts to be automated within AWS.

Customer Benefit

- Ensured data was not exposed to other customers in a multi-tenant environment via data masking
- Save 1-2 database engineer resources from manage creditials on MySQL.
- Helped fulfilled regulatory compliance standards (SOC2, SOX)
- Improved database scale 50% due to SQL offload (query caching and connection pooling)
- Saved database resources from managing and maintaining MySQL with the use of Amazon RDS for MySQL.

Challenge

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