Back to Registry

Cloudflare Deployment Pilot Plan for Brand Radar

1. Executive Summary

This document outlines a plan to pilot Cloudflare as a replacement for Vercel for the Brand Radar application. The pilot aims to evaluate Cloudflare's performance, stability, security, and cost-effectiveness compared to the current Vercel deployment.

2. Pilot Application: Brand Radar

• Reasoning: Brand Radar is a Next.js application deployed on Vercel with active development and a clear performance profile. Its reliance on serverless functions and database interactions makes it a suitable candidate for evaluating Cloudflare's capabilities.
• Current Vercel URL: https://brand-radar-rosy.vercel.app

3. Success Criteria (KPIs)

| KPI | Target | Measurement Method | |---|---|---| | Deployment Success Rate | >99.9% | Monitor deployment logs and error rates. | | Software Runtime Speed/Performance | <200ms TTFB, <1s FCP, <2.5s LCP | Cloudflare Speedtest, WebPageTest, and browser developer tools. | | Time-to-Result Latency for Key Workflows (e.g., brand scan) | <5s | Measure the time taken for a brand scan to complete via application logs in Grafana. | | Stability (Error Rate) | <0.1% | Monitor error logs(Sentry) and application health metrics. | | Security | No new vulnerabilities introduced | Regular security scans using tools like Snyk and manual security reviews. |

4. Phased Rollout Plan

1. Phase 1 (Development & Testing):
   • Set up a Cloudflare account and configure the Brand Radar application for deployment.
   • Implement necessary code changes or configurations to ensure compatibility with Cloudflare.
   • Thoroughly test the application in a staging environment to validate functionality and performance.
2. Phase 2 (Shadow Deployment):
   • Deploy the Brand Radar application to Cloudflare without directing any user traffic.
   • Mirror production traffic to the Cloudflare deployment for real-world performance testing and analysis.
   • Compare performance metrics between Vercel and Cloudflare deployments.
3. Phase 3 (Limited Production Rollout):
   • Direct a small percentage (e.g., 5%) of production traffic to the Cloudflare deployment.
   • Continuously monitor performance, stability, and error rates.
   • Gradually increase the percentage of traffic directed to Cloudflare based on performance and stability.
4. Phase 4 (Full Production Rollout):
   • Direct 100% of production traffic to the Cloudflare deployment after successful limited rollout.
   • Continuously monitor performance, stability, and security.

5. Rollback Plan

• In the event of critical issues or unacceptable performance degradation, traffic can be immediately switched back to the Vercel deployment.
• Detailed rollback procedures will be documented and tested before the production rollout.

6. Go/No-Go Gates

• Go/No-Go Gate 1 (Phase 1 Complete):
  • Successful deployment to a Cloudflare staging environment.
  • All essential application functionality is validated in the staging environment.
• Go/No-Go Gate 2 (Phase 2 Complete):
  • Shadow deployment is stable and performs comparably to the Vercel deployment.
  • No critical errors or performance regressions are identified.
• Go/No-Go Gate 3 (Phase 3 Complete):
  • Limited production rollout is stable and meets defined KPIs.
  • No significant issues or user impact are identified.

7. Conclusion

This pilot provides a structured approach to evaluate Cloudflare as a potential replacement for Vercel. Successful completion of this pilot will inform a data-driven decision regarding a full migration.