Orca/ScaleOps – Case Study

About Orca Security

Orca Security is a leading SaaS company in the cyber security industry, renowned for its advanced security solutions that help organizations protect their cloud environments. With a large team of engineers, Orca Security leverages Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS) to run its workloads. The company’s commitment to innovation and efficiency drives its continuous efforts to optimize resource management and ensure the smooth operation of its platform.

The Challenge

Orca Security encountered several significant challenges in managing the resources of their Kubernetes workloads:

• Highly Dynamic Production Clusters: The company operates in a highly dynamic environment where production clusters experience frequent and massive scale-ups and scale-downs. This variability demands a resource management solution that can adapt quickly and efficiently to changing conditions.
  
• Non-Interruptible Workloads: Many of Orca Security’s workloads are critical and cannot be interrupted. These workloads require careful handling to ensure they remain stable and uninterrupted during scaling operations.
  
• Manual Pod Rightsizing: The process of adjusting pod sizes to match their actual resource needs was labor-intensive and manual. This task required significant time and effort from the platform team, diverting their attention from other strategic initiatives.
  
• Managing Resources Across Multiple Clusters: With multiple clusters to oversee, resource management became increasingly complex, requiring considerable manual intervention and monitoring.
  
• Engineer Communication and Visibility: Keeping the engineering teams informed about resource usage and workload behavior was essential for efficient operations. However, achieving this visibility and maintaining clear communication was challenging.

The Solution

Orca Security selected ScaleOps as their automatic resource management platform for Kubernetes workloads to overcome these challenges. The installation was quick, and time to value short, leveraging several key features and capabilities of the ScaleOps platform:

• Out-of-the-Box Functionality: The solution came with robust out-of-the-box functionality, requiring minimal configuration and customization. This meant that Orca Security could quickly implement and benefit from ScaleOps without extensive setup time.
  
• Zero-Touch Ongoing Pod Rightsizing: ScaleOps provided a fully automated solution for pod rightsizing. By continuously monitoring and adjusting pod sizes based on real-time usage data, ScaleOps ensured optimal resource allocation without requiring manual intervention from the platform team.
  
• Un-Evictable Bin-Packing Capabilities: ScaleOps’ built-in un-evictable bin-packing capabilities allowed Orca Security to rightsize critical workloads that could not be interrupted efficiently. This feature ensured these workloads were placed and scaled appropriately without risking eviction.
  
• Multi-Cluster View: ScaleOps provided a unified view of all clusters, simplifying the management of resources across multiple environments. This centralized approach enabled better monitoring and more efficient resource distribution.
  
• Enhanced Visibility into Workload Behavior: ScaleOps offered comprehensive insights into workload behavior and resource usage. This visibility enabled the engineering teams to monitor performance, identify potential issues, and make informed decisions about resource allocation.

The Impact

The adoption of ScaleOps brought about substantial improvements in Orca Security’s resource management and overall operational efficiency:

• 50% Reduction in CPU Allocation Requests: By rightsizing pods automatically, ScaleOps reduced the CPU allocation requests by half. This optimization translated into thousands of CPU cores being saved, significantly reducing resource wastage.
  
• Cost Savings Across 3,000+ Workloads: The efficient resource management led to notable cost reductions across more than 3,000 workloads. These savings allowed Orca Security to reallocate the budget towards other critical areas of the business.
  
• Enhanced Performance of Thousands of Workloads: The automated and ongoing optimization of resources resulted in improved performance for thousands of workloads. This improvement ensured that resources were used efficiently and workloads ran smoothly, contributing to overall system stability and reliability.
  
• Streamlined Platform Team Operations: By automating the tedious and manual process of pod rightsizing, ScaleOps freed up the platform team’s time, allowing them to focus on higher-value tasks and strategic initiatives.
  
• Improved Engineer Awareness and Engagement: With better visibility into workload behavior, the engineering teams were more informed and engaged. This transparency facilitated better decision-making and proactive management of resources.

In summary, the implementation of ScaleOps transformed Orca Security’s approach to resource management. The company achieved significant cost savings, improved workload performance, and enhanced operational efficiency, positioning itself for continued growth and success in the cybersecurity industry.