Big Data Platform Upgrade: the journey of a leading banking player to CDP7

Scenario

The client’s Big Data platform, based on Cloudera CDH 6.3.3, was approaching the end of its official support lifecycle, resulting in heightened risks related to unresolved vulnerabilities, lack of updates, and loss of vendor technical assistance.

This risk was further amplified by the integration of numerous business-critical applications such as SAS, Pentaho, QlikView, SAP BO, IRION, and IBAF, each with specific compatibility and configuration requirements. The presence of multiple environments (DEV, UAT, DR, PRD) required strict management to ensure operational continuity throughout the upgrade process.

Solution

Technology Reply partnered with the client through a structured, collaborative approach, organizing the project into two main phases:

  • Phase 1: Application Validation and Upgrade
    Within a dedicated test lab environment, drivers and application software were tested and upgraded to ensure full compatibility with the upcoming CDP 7 platform. Comprehensive functional tests were carried out across all intermediate environments, ensuring business process integrity.

  • Phase 2: Infrastructure Upgrade and Migration
    Following successful testing, the project proceeded with the operating system upgrade (from RHEL 7.4 to 7.9), Oracle database refresh (from 18c to 19c), and deployment of Cloudera Data Platform 7 Private Cloud.
    Technology Reply managed the configuration, optimization, and monitoring of the entire technology stack, validating application performance and mitigating the risk of production downtime.

The entire initiative was supported by a detailed project management plan, engaging multidisciplinary teams and maintaining constant communication with the client.

Benefits

The initiative delivered significant benefits to the client:

Technology Reply’s expertise in managing complex Big Data projects proved to be a key factor in achieving both the success and the high quality of the final outcome.