What factors are contributing to increased latency in Redis Enterprise Cloud deployments on AWS over the last month?

Introduction

Increased latency in Redis Enterprise Cloud deployments on AWS over the last month is a critical issue that demands immediate attention. This analysis will systematically identify, validate, and address the root cause while considering both short-term fixes and long-term implications for our Redis service on AWS.

I'll approach this problem by first clarifying the context, then ruling out external factors before diving deep into product understanding, metric breakdown, and hypothesis generation. We'll then conduct a thorough root cause analysis, propose validation methods, and outline a comprehensive resolution plan.

Step 1

Clarifying Questions (3 minutes)

• Looking at the timing, I'm thinking there might be a recent change in our deployment process. Have there been any updates to our Redis Enterprise Cloud deployment pipeline in the last month?

Why it matters: Recent changes often correlate with performance issues. Expected answer: Yes, there was a minor update to the deployment process. Impact on approach: If yes, we'd focus on the deployment pipeline; if no, we'd look elsewhere.

• Considering the specificity to AWS, I'm wondering about potential AWS-specific issues. Have we observed similar latency increases in other cloud environments like GCP or Azure?

Why it matters: This helps isolate whether the issue is AWS-specific or more general. Expected answer: No, the issue seems confined to AWS deployments. Impact on approach: If AWS-specific, we'd investigate AWS-related factors; if not, we'd look at our overall architecture.

• Given the nature of Redis, I'm curious about data volume changes. Has there been a significant increase in data volume or write operations in the affected deployments?

Why it matters: Increased data load could explain latency issues. Expected answer: There's been a 20% increase in data volume across affected deployments. Impact on approach: If yes, we'd focus on scaling and optimization; if no, we'd look at other performance factors.

• Thinking about user patterns, I'm wondering about changes in access patterns. Have we noticed any shifts in how clients are interacting with Redis, such as increased complex queries or changes in read/write ratios?

Why it matters: Changes in usage patterns can significantly impact performance. Expected answer: There's been a slight increase in complex queries. Impact on approach: If yes, we'd investigate query optimization; if no, we'd look at infrastructure or configuration issues.