Building the Website with WordPress on AWS

Our Customer

A biotech firm partnered with us to pioneer a transformative approach to biomedical innovation. Their innovative solution focuses on inducing catalytic failure in real-world human models of disease, utilizing organs from deceased donors unsuitable for transplantation. This unconventional approach harnesses the untapped potential of these organs, providing profound insights into human disease and therapeutic responses.

The Obstacles They Faced

The client’s outdated website failed to meet their current goals and needs as well as exhibited critical weaknesses that led to IT overspending, a poor user experience, operational inconveniences, and potential data security risks.

How We Helped

We revitalized the client’s online presence by rebuilding their website on the WordPress platform and transitioning its hosting to AWS. The renovation effectively resolved and eradicated the previously faced troubles, including scalability, performance, security, and IT expense issues.

Moving to WordPress on AWS hosting

With comprehensive full-cycle software development capabilities, we proposed re-architecting the old website using the WordPress CMS Engine. This platform not only offers easy maintenance, enhanced flexibility and wider design customization options but it also effectively eliminates all the limitations and drawbacks presented by the previous website builder. Drawing from our own experience, we’ve seen these benefits firsthand, as Romexsoft’s website is built with WordPress on AWS too.

Our client’s primary solution operates on AWS. Therefore, Romexsoft recommended hosting the website on AWS as well, taking into account the most suitable deployment strategy. The options considered were utilizing Amazon Lightsail or opting for a Dockerized application managed by ECS Fargate.

Re-architecting the website

Considering the client’s current infrastructure setup, which includes routing through CloudFront and Application Load Balancer (ALB) as well as distinct Sandbox/Production environments within an Infrastructure as a Code (IaaC) framework, with ECS on AWS Fargate as the primary computing service, our experts decided to construct the new website’s infrastructure using the following configuration:

Serverless architecture

By adopting a serverless architecture with Amazon ECS on AWS Fargate, the client benefits from a highly scalable and managed container orchestration service. This approach ensures efficient resource allocation, enabling the website to seamlessly handle fluctuating loads. It significantly reduces the operational overhead associated with managing the underlying infrastructure, which is a crucial advantage.

Efficient cloud storage

With Amazon EFS, the client benefits from a scalable and reliable file storage solution. This capability allows the website to store and access shared files efficiently across multiple containers, ensuring application-wide data consistency and eliminating the need for hardware management tasks.

Data security and integrity

By leveraging AWS RDS for MariaDB, we secure data integrity and security for the website. The managed database service provides automated backups, scaling capabilities, and built-in encryption, enhancing website performance and security. It offers a safeguard against data loss, simplifies recovery after accidental deletions or system failures, and ensures the site stays responsive and efficient, even at peak usage.

High performance and reliability

We leveraged the Application Load Balancer (ALB) to enhance the website’s availability and fault tolerance. ALB intelligently distributes incoming traffic across multiple targets, like Fargate containers, optimizing overall performance and reducing downtime risks associated with server failures.

Automated builds and deployments

With AWS CodeBuild and CodePipeline services, we automated the development cycle, diminish manual errors, and maintain consistency in releases. Consequently, the client can swiftly and proficiently roll out updates to their audience, improving user experience and engagement.

WordPress on AWS Website – Architecture Diagram

Improved flexibility and customization

WordPress on AWS provides the client with a highly flexible and customizable platform. They can easily update content, add new features, and tailor the website’s design to align with their evolving brand identity and messaging.

Enhanced scalability and performance

By migrating the website to AWS, the client now benefits from the elevated scalability and performance of their online platform. AWS’s infrastructure allows for seamless scaling based on demand, ensuring the website can handle spikes in traffic without compromising user experience.

Strengthened security and reliability

AWS’s robust security measures ensure the website’s data remains secure. Additionally, the use of ALB and CloudFront enhances reliability and availability, minimizing downtime and ensuring continuous access for visitors.

Streamlined development and deployment

The implementation of tools that ensure automated deployments streamlines the entire biotech software development and deployment process. This results in a faster time-to-market for updates and new features, empowering the client to stay ahead of the competition.

Savings on IT staff and operational overhead

The client achieved annual savings of up to 20% on IT infrastructure costs and an additional 15% on IT support expenses. Moreover, as there is no longer a need to dedicate resources to maintaining the website, it enables the client to allocate these resources toward business initiatives that drive growth and competitive advantage.