Project Name
Open Source HBase Migration Cut TCO 40% and Delivered Sub-10ms Latency for a Telco
A cloud-native digital commerce leader providing high-velocity converged charging systems for global Telco operators needed to transition a high-throughput data core from licensed Cloudera HBase to open source Apache HBase. Escalating licensing costs and rigid upgrade cycles were hindering 5G hyper-scaling agility. Real-time transaction volumes scaling to billions of events demanded source-code level tuning for ultra-low latency. Applying its AI-First approach, Ksolves executed a zero-downtime migration of 2.5 PB+ of live telco data to a 50+ node open source Apache HBase cluster, delivering sub-10ms P99 latency, 40% annual TCO reduction, and 100% SLA adherence throughout.
- Escalating Cloudera Licensing Costs and Ecosystem Rigidity: Rising licensing costs and inflexible upgrade cycles directly hindered 5G scaling agility. The team could not cherry-pick or backport Apache HBase features without waiting for vendor release cycles.
- Proprietary Vendor Tool Dependency: Continued reliance on Cloudera Manager increased long-term operational risk. Losing access to vendor tooling required building a completely new observability suite from scratch.
- Zero-Downtime Migration of 2.5 PB+ of Live Telco Data: Safely moving 2.5 PB+ of telco data required complex, timed Snapshot-and-Sync frameworks to avoid disrupting live 5G charging and billing applications.
- Massive Transactional Scale and Ultra-Low Latency Requirements: Handling billions of real-time events required deep, source-code level architectural tuning to maintain ultra-low latency and minimise G1GC pauses.
- Security Re-Integration Without Vendor Tooling: Transitioning from Cloudera required meticulous manual security hardening, re-mapping Kerberos authentication, and re-implementing Ranger-based RBAC policies without the Cloudera Manager layer.
- RegionServer Deadlocks and ZooKeeper Quorum Instabilities: Complex operational issues required rapid root-cause analysis that vendor ticket cycles could not provide.
Ksolves executed the full migration from Cloudera HBase to open source Apache HBase using a phased Snapshot-and-Sync approach that kept live 5G applications uninterrupted throughout. Source-code level architectural tuning was applied to meet ultra-low latency requirements. Proprietary vendor tooling was replaced with a custom Prometheus and Grafana observability suite. Security hardening was implemented manually via Kerberos and Apache Ranger RBAC.
- Zero-Downtime Migration via Snapshot-and-Sync Framework: Phased Snapshot-and-Sync migration framework designed to safely move 2.5 PB+ of live telco data from Cloudera to open source Apache HBase without interrupting live 5G charging and billing applications.
- Source-Code Level Performance Tuning: Off-heap read/write paths, custom BucketCache to minimise G1GC pauses, and HDFS short-circuit read tuning achieving sub-10ms P99 latency under 1 TB+ daily throughput at billions of events per day.
- Custom Observability Suite: Prometheus and Grafana monitoring built to replace Cloudera Manager, covering RegionServer health, Zookeeper quorum stability, latency percentiles, and TPS metrics across the 50+ node cluster.
- Security Re-Integration via Kerberos and Apache Ranger: Manual Kerberos authentication re-mapping and Apache Ranger RBAC policies re-implemented to maintain enterprise-grade access control without proprietary Cloudera Manager dependency.
- Open Source Stabilisation and MTTR Improvement: Full transition to 100% open source Apache HBase, eliminating licensing costs and enabling direct root-cause analysis of RegionServer deadlocks and ZooKeeper instabilities without waiting on vendor ticketing cycles.
Technology Stack
| Category | Technology |
|---|---|
| Storage | Apache HBase (Open Source, 50+ Nodes) |
| Migration | Snapshot-and-Sync Framework |
| Performance | Off-Heap Path + BucketCache |
| Observability | Prometheus + Grafana |
| Security | Kerberos + Apache Ranger RBAC |
- 40% Annual TCO Reduction: Elimination of Cloudera licensing fees and proprietary maintenance contracts delivered a 40% reduction in annual total cost of ownership.
- Sub-10ms P99 Latency at 1 TB+ Daily Throughput: Off-heap paths, BucketCache, and HDFS short-circuit reads achieved sub-10ms P99 read/write latency under billions of real-time daily events.
- 2.5 PB+ Migrated With Zero Downtime: The phased Snapshot-and-Sync framework moved the full telco data estate without a single interruption to live 5G charging and billing applications.
- 100% SLA Adherence Maintained: No SLA breach recorded across the full migration and post-migration stabilisation period.
- Full Operational Freedom From Vendor Lock-In: The team can now cherry-pick Apache HBase features, resolve RegionServer and ZooKeeper issues via direct RCA, and scale for 5G without proprietary constraints.
“The Cloudera licensing cost was high, but the real constraint was the upgrade cycle rigidity. Moving to open source Apache HBase gave us both the cost reduction and the operational freedom to tune the platform at source level for 5G hyper-scaling. Ksolves delivered the migration without a single disruption to our live charging systems.”
– Head of Data Engineering / VP Infrastructure.
A cloud-native telco monetisation platform carrying billions of real-time charging events daily, constrained by Cloudera HBase licensing costs and rigid upgrade cycles blocking 5G scaling agility, was transformed through Ksolves Big Data services. 2.5 PB+ of live telco data migrated to a 50+ node open source Apache HBase cluster with zero downtime. Sub-10ms P99 latency achieved through source-code level tuning. 40% annual TCO reduction delivered. 100% SLA maintained. Custom Prometheus and Grafana observability replaced Cloudera Manager. Kerberos and Ranger RBAC maintained enterprise-grade security. The platform now scales for 5G without proprietary constraints.
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