Service reliability is crucial in payment processing, especially during high transaction volumes like Double Day promotions. Even brief system downtime can have significant repercussions. This is why Opn Payments focuses on maintaining a stable system with 99.99% service uptime, supported by a dedicated infrastructure team.

We invited Pornphan Buranapim, Director of Infrastructure, to discuss the measures in place to ensure system stability, covering personnel, system design, and operational processes.

Here are the interview questions and Pornphan's responses regarding the Infrastructure team and its importance, as well as the measures taken to ensure minimal disruptions even during high transaction volumes.

Interviewer: Can you introduce the Infrastructure team to our readers who might not be familiar with it?

Pornphan: The Infrastructure team is responsible for ensuring the smooth operation of Opn’s payment processing and other services. Our systems are primarily cloud-based, with data centers in Singapore and Japan. This involves overseeing the entire system, connections, and databases. The team also looks for opportunities to improve the system with new technologies, such as automating workflows to enhance efficiency.

The Infra team consists of three departments: System Infrastructure, Database, and Operation, also known as the Service Operation Center (SOC). The SOC monitors and resolves issues, as well as coordinates with the Customer Success team when disruptions occur.

Interviewer: So, the Infra team ensures the payment system operates smoothly. What are the potential impacts if the system experiences downtime?

Pornphan: If a disruption prevents merchants from processing payments, customers can't purchase goods or services during that time. This leads to lost revenue and negatively affects customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also burdens the merchant’s operations team to resolve the issue and mitigate any damages.

Thus, the Infra team plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of the payment system, striving to maintain 99.99% uptime. Merchants can check the status of our systems on our system status page.

Interviewer: What measures does Opn take to maintain 99.99% uptime?

Pornphan: We focus on three areas: Personnel, System, and Process.

Personnel: Our Infra team consists of AWS service experts, as AWS is our cloud service provider. We continuously develop our team by supporting their certification as AWS Solutions Architects and providing relevant training sessions.

System: Opn’s system architecture uses AWS, one of the world's most reliable cloud infrastructure solutions. Our system is also designed with redundancy, featuring two server groups running simultaneously to ensure continuous service if one group fails.

Process: Clear, systematic processes help prevent disruptions and enable quick resolution when issues arise. Key processes include:

• Change Management: Evaluating the impact of code changes on services and merchants, planning to minimize these impacts, and verifying the steps to fix issues if errors occur.

• Incident Management: Handling disruptions based on severity. For example, Severe incidents (Severity 1) involve senior management for swift resolution. This process also includes identifying lessons learned from each incident.

• Problem Management: Addressing recurring issues. If incidents recur despite previous fixes, Problem Management seeks permanent solutions.

Interviewer: What special measures does Opn take to handle high transaction volumes during promotions like 8.8?

Pornphan: Our system uses AWS Auto Scaling solutions to automatically expand capacity to handle high transaction volumes. We also implement a Freeze Period during promotions to prevent code changes that could cause disruptions. This Freeze Period also applies at the end of the month, when system usage peaks. Additionally, our SOC team, in coordination with the Customer Success team, closely monitors potential disruptions with extra caution during this period.

Summary:

Opn Payments prioritizes your business operations by developing a stable system with 99.99% uptime, supported by a dedicated infrastructure team and clear, systematic measures to prevent and resolve issues. This ensures your business runs smoothly, even during high transaction volumes.