Post Graduate Program in Cloud Computing (PGP-CC)

Case Analysis (Cloud native DevOps)

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES

1. Please review the format before proceeding

Section Questions Points

The case study literature

Answer all the questions based on your understanding of 3 C/I

the case study

Result C/I

2. This is a Complete/Incomplete (C/I) submission

3. All questions are mandatory

4. This is an open book/internet submission

5. Wherever applicable candidates should clearly explain the reasons for their
answers

6. Any supporting artifacts like architecture diagram can be drawn on paper and a
snapshot can be pasted in the document. You can use any architecture-drawing tool
as well.

7. Any handwritten diagrams etc. must have all writings in capital letters. Illegible
text will be marked as incorrect response.
Case data
About lululemon athletica

lululemon athletica can stand up development environments in minutes instead of

days, automate its environment, and enable continuous integration and deployment
using AWS. The Canadian company sells yoga-inspired apparel and other clothing at
more than 350 locations throughout the world. The company runs its dev and test
environments—as well as an upcoming mobile app—on the AWS Cloud.

The Challenge

Several years ago, lululemon decided to offer more digital services and push out new
applications and features faster. However, the company had a limited ability to
quickly develop new applications because of its collocated IT environment. “We
didn’t have the ability to move as quickly as we needed to,” says Sam Keen, director
of product architecture, who was recently hired to design and implement the
environment for new products.

As an example, it typically took lululemon developers several days to stand up

development environments for testing new features. “It was too costly and not fast
enough,” says Keen. “Even small-scale experiments took too much time.”
lululemon also wanted to streamline development processes to support its new
continuous integration and delivery focus. “For our continuous integration and
delivery pipeline, we needed to simplify management and automate as many
development processes as possible,” says Keen.

Why Amazon Web Services

lululemon chose Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the platform for its development,
test, and production environments. “AWS is a proven cloud provider, and I had great
experiences with AWS at previous companies I worked for. Its breadth of services is
unprecedented,” Keen says. “Also, the large and ever-increasing catalog of basic
AWS services enables us to spend more time on our specific product code bases,
rather than spending time implementing and maintaining a custom queueing
solution.”

lululemon uses a variety of AWS services to engineer a fully automated, continuous

integration and delivery system. The company uses AWS CloudFormation templates
to define its complete development environment. “Everything we deploy, whether in
development or production, is driven by CloudFormation,” says Keen. The company's
infrastructure uses immutable components that do not need additional
configuration once deployed. lululemon deploys immutable artifacts distributed
via Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). These are deployed to servers
using AWS CodePipeline, a continuous-delivery service that enables fast, reliable
 application updates. From this stage, the artifacts are deployed to AWS Elastic
Beanstalk, a service for deploying and scaling web applications and services.

lululemon also takes advantage of the Amazon Cognito service to create unique
identities for users and authenticate them using internal user pools. In addition to its
development environment, the company plans to run a customer-facing mobile app
on the AWS Cloud, using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances.
The app includes customized content specific to the communities where lululemon
stores are based.

The Benefits

Relying on AWS services to automate and simplify its dev and test environments,
lululemon can decrease its development time. “Instead of taking two days to build a
new production account, we can do it in minutes using AWS CloudFormation
templates and AWS CodePipeline,” says Keen. “That means we can launch
small-scale projects that cost very little and take very little time to set up. With that
agility, we can experiment and get to the best solutions, rather than having to settle
for what we have resources for. Using AWS, we can push out new features and
applications much faster than we could previously.”

With a simplified development approach containing few manual steps, lululemon

NV735HLCWQ has also enhanced the manageability of its environment. “Because all infrastructure
is defined by AWS CloudFormation, we have a single source of truth. An
infrastructure change only needs to occur in one place, and we can see the potential
impact of that change,” says Keen. “Also, because the CloudFormation templates are
in source control, we gain that aspect of change control. The value that AWS
CloudFormation brings to our developers is huge.”

lululemon also has improved its development system transparency. “We get a very
simple visualization of the pipeline using AWS,” says Keen. “Any continuous
integration and deployment pipeline should be automated, easy to manage, and
discoverable, and that’s exactly what we get using AWS. We get a level of simplicity
and transparency we simply couldn’t have using our previous on-premises
environment.”

By basing the services supporting its mobile app on AWS, the company is building
digital tools to enable lululemon to better engage local communities. “As a result,
lululemon employees can more easily build dynamic content that best aligns with
consumers’ interests. Based on the success we’ve seen so far, we plan to create and
run additional new applications on AWS. Moving to AWS was a great decision for our
business.”
Source of case study
https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/case-studies/lululemon-athletica/

Questions (all are mandatory)

1. What according to you are the drivers that compelled Lululemon to consider such
an implementation?

Answers:

Several years ago, Lululemon decided to offer more digital services and push out
new applications and features faster. However, the company had a limited ability to
quickly develop new applications because of its collocated IT environment. "We
didn't have the ability to move as quickly as we needed to," says Sam Keen, director
of product architecture, who was recently hired to design and implement the
environment for new products.

As an example, it typically took Lululemon developers several days to stand up

development environments for testing new features. "It was too costly and not fast
enough," says Keen. "Even small-scale experiments took too much time."

Lululemon also wanted to streamline development processes to support its new

continuous integration and delivery focus. "For our continuous integration and
delivery pipeline, we needed to simplify management and automate as many
development processes as possible," says Keen.

Lululemon has been empowering people to reach their full potential through
providing the right tools and resources since being founded in 1998. Since 1998, we
have made great strides in the sports apparel world ranging from women's yoga
pants to men's footwear. With the evolution of technology in everyday life, we are
breaking into the fitness technology market. Our team has decided to develop and
distribute a wireless fitness tracker, called the "Luup".

The Luup is designed to be worn around the foot and utilize Bluetooth technology
to pair with all major smartphones to not only count steps and track calorie
retention, but also monitor the heart rate of the consumer. The Luup differs from
current products in the market through its durability and battery life.

The value received from this product will be well worth the price, as it will include
the Lululemon lifetime warranty. Our target market includes men and women
between the ages of 16 and 45 who are physically active. With our proven track
record of quality and greatness, we expect to carry out our growth strategy and
promote fitness in everyday life.
2. Prepare the list of services used by Lululemon and the reasons for the selection?

Answers:
Lululemon chose Amazon Web Services (AWS) as the platform for its development,
test, and production environments. "AWS is a proven cloud provider, and I had great
experiences with AWS at previous companies I worked for. Its breadth of services is
unprecedented," Keen says. "Also, the large and ever-increasing catalog of basic AWS
services enables us to spend more time on our specific product code bases, rather
than spending time implementing and maintaining a custom queueing solution."

Lululemon uses a variety of AWS services to engineer a fully automated, continuous

integration and delivery system.

The company uses AWS CloudFormation templates to define its complete

development environment. "Everything we deploy, whether in development or
production, is driven by CloudFormation," says Keen. The company's infrastructure
uses immutable components that do not need additional configuration once
deployed. Lululemon deploys immutable artifacts distributed via Amazon Simple
Storage Service (Amazon S3).

These are deployed to servers using AWS CodePipeline, a continuous-delivery service

that enables fast, reliable application updates. From this stage, the artifacts are
deployed to AWS Elastic Beanstalk, a service for deploying and scaling web
applications and services. Lululemon also takes advantage of the Amazon Cognito
service to create unique identities for users and authenticate them using internal user
pools.

In addition to its development environment, the company plans to run a customer-

facing mobile app on the AWS Cloud, using Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon
EC2) instances. The app includes customized content specific to the communities
where Lululemon stores are based.

3. Prepare a list of core benefits that were realized by Lululemon? Assume you
areworking for/with a company that intends to embark on such a journey.

Answers:

Using AWS, we can push out new features and applications much faster:
"Relying on AWS services to automate and simplify its dev and test environments,
lululemon can decrease its development time. "Instead of taking two days to build
a new production account, they can do it in minutes using AWS CloudFormation
templates and AWS CodePipeline," says Keen. "That means we can launch small-
scale projects that cost very little and take very little time to set up. With that
agility, we can experiment and get to the best solutions, rather than having to
settle for what we have resources for.

Simplified development approach: With a simplified development approach

containing few manual steps, lululemon has also enhanced the manageability of
its environment. "Because all infrastructure is defined by AWS CloudFormation,
we have a single source of truth. An infrastructure change only needs to occur in
one place, and we can see the potential impact of that change," says Keen. "Also,
because the CloudFormation templates are in source control, we gain that aspect
of change control. The value that AWS CloudFormation brings to our developers is
huge."

Improved development system transparency: Lululemon also has improved its

development system transparency. "We get a very simple visualization of the
pipeline using AWS," says Keen. "Any continuous integration and deployment
pipeline should be automated, easy to manage, and discoverable, and that's
exactly what we get using AWS. We get a level of simplicity and transparency we
simply couldn't have using our previous on-premises environment."

Increased Outreach to local communities: By basing the services supporting its

mobile app on AWS, the company is building digital tools to enable lululemon to
better engage local communities. "As a result, lululemon employees can more
easily build dynamic content that best aligns with consumers' interests. Based on
the success we've seen so far, we plan to create and run additional new
applications on AWS. Moving to AWS was a great decision for our business."