Beyond the Deals: How to Build an IT Infrastructure That Handles Black Friday Chaos

Every year, during the last week of November, millions of consumers flock to take advantage of Black Friday deals. For online retailers like Amazon and payment platforms like PayPal, this week accounts for approximately 15% of their annual revenue. Any disruption during this critical period could result in significant losses. 

There are specific challenges for IT infrastructure operators during Black Friday week, particularly for applications, servers, databases, and storage systems. Here are some of the key challenges: 

• Increased Traffic and Load: 

 

Overwhelmed Servers: A sudden surge in website traffic can overwhelm servers, leading to slow response times, errors, and even crashes. 

Database Bottlenecks: Databases may struggle to handle increased read and write operations, causing delays in data retrieval and updates. 

Storage System Limitations: Storage systems may become saturated due to increased file uploads and downloads, impacting performance and potentially leading to data loss. 

 

• Performance Degradation: 

 

Slow Page Load Times: Increased traffic can significantly slow down page load times, frustrating users and potentially driving them away. 

Application Errors: Applications may experience errors or timeouts due to resource constraints or inefficient code execution. 

Database Query Slowdowns: Complex database queries may take longer to execute, affecting overall application performance. 

 

• Security Risks: 

 

Increased Vulnerability: High traffic volumes can attract malicious actors who may exploit vulnerabilities in the infrastructure for cyberattacks. 

DDoS Attacks: Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks can further exacerbate the situation by overwhelming servers with malicious traffic. 

 

• Scalability Issues: 

 

Insufficient Capacity: If the infrastructure is not designed to handle peak loads, it may struggle to scale up quickly enough to meet demand. 

Resource Constraints: Limited hardware and software resources can hinder the ability to scale effectively. 

 

• Monitoring and Troubleshooting: 

 

Overwhelmed Monitoring Systems: Monitoring tools may be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of data generated during peak traffic, making it difficult to identify and address issues promptly. 

Complex Troubleshooting: Troubleshooting performance issues in a high-traffic environment can be challenging, requiring specialized skills and tools. 

 

To mitigate these challenges, IT infrastructure operators can implement strategies such as: 

By effectively addressing these challenges, IT infrastructure operators can ensure a smooth and reliable user experience during peak traffic events like Black Friday week. 

Conclusion: Proactive planning is the most crucial strategic element of mastering Black Friday 

Black Friday is becoming increasingly important not only in B2C, but also in B2B. Companies that do not prepare their IT infrastructure for this day in good time not only risk losing sales, but also long-term damage to their reputation. 

Well thought-out IT and application infrastructure management should focus on scalability, security and resilience. Those who plan proactively and use the right technologies can not only overcome the challenges, but also learn valuable lessons for the future from Black Friday. 

FNT Software Solutions provide a Digital Twin of the IT, datacenter and network infrastructure serving not only as a most comprehensive interactive documentation, but also supports planning & capacity management in order to lay out the infrastructure to handle heavy load scenarios. 

Learn more about FNT´s Infrastructure Management Software now