Compare Scenarios

Migration Step 1

Both scenarios define a migration step at this stage. Audit and Compliance Platform: triggered by 'Compliance audit finding that audit records were modified af'. Social Feed Platform: triggered by 'PostgreSQL timeline read query p99 > 500ms; query plan for "'.

Migration Step 2

Both scenarios define a migration step at this stage. Audit and Compliance Platform: triggered by 'Compliance report generation taking > 5 minutes against Post'. Social Feed Platform: triggered by 'Fan-out worker queue lag during celebrity post events > 5 mi'.

Migration Step 3

Both scenarios define a migration step at this stage. Audit and Compliance Platform: triggered by 'SIEM consumer lag causing it to fall behind retention window'. Social Feed Platform: triggered by 'Redis memory utilization approaching 80% of a single node; R'.

PostgreSQL write p99 > 20ms with low connection count; pg_stat_activity showing transactions serialized on the same partition's chain-tip read; ingestion throughput plateauing well below hardware limits; auto_explain showing sequential scan on audit_events for "SELECT hash FROM audit_events ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1"

Tier 1: Integrity Chain Write Serialization: Per-partition chain-tip read before each insert serializing concurrent audit writers. Recommended evolution: Introduce partition-level chain sequence tables: a single row per partition tracking the current chain tip with an advisory lock, eliminating the full table read. Alternatively, shard the integrity chain by source system or tenant, accepting per-shard chains rather than a single global chain. Use PostgreSQL INSERT ... RETURNING with sequence-assigned IDs to eliminate the pre-insert read entirely, deferring chain hash computation to an async integrity sealer that appends hashes in order without blocking the write path. .

Compliance investigator queries returning in > 30s; PostgreSQL showing high sequential scan counts on audit_events partitions; investigator-facing API p99 > 10s; pg_stat_statements showing actor_id-scoped queries without partition pruning in the query plan

Tier 2: Actor Query Full-Partition Scan: Missing secondary index table for actor_id and resource_id lookup paths across time-partitioned audit data. Recommended evolution: Build a secondary index table audit_events_by_actor(actor_id, event_time, event_id) populated synchronously on insert. Accept the additional write per event as the cost of O(log n) actor-scoped queries. Alternatively, route actor-scoped queries to ClickHouse where columnar storage makes actor_id filters efficient without a secondary B-tree index. .

Kafka consumer group lag for fan-out worker group growing steadily; feed propagation latency (time from post write to follower feed update) exceeding 30s p95; Redis write rate on feed keys elevated but not saturated; post activity rate normal

Tier 1: Fan-Out Worker Queue Backlog: Fan-out worker pool undersized for burst post activity or a celebrity post creating a sustained high-fan-out event. Recommended evolution: Add fan-out worker replicas; implement fan-out cost routing: route high-follower-count fan-out events to a dedicated high-cost worker pool with separate Kafka consumer group and Redis write quota; use follower count threshold (e.g., >50k followers) as the routing decision. Monitor fan-out cost per post as a first-class metric. .

Redis memory utilization > 75%; eviction rate rising; cache miss rate on feed reads increasing; cold feed read fallback queries appearing in PostgreSQL slow query log; feed read p99 > 100ms despite Redis being online

Tier 2: Redis Feed Memory Ceiling: Redis feed list storage approaching memory limit; feed items being evicted before TTL; or feed list cap set too high for available memory. Recommended evolution: Reduce feed list cap from current value toward 100–150 items; increase Redis cluster capacity or shard feed keys by user_id range across multiple Redis primaries; implement tiered feed storage: hot recent items in Redis, older items fetched from PostgreSQL on demand with explicit product UX affordance .