APEX Mobile Media
Database Migration to Aurora
Premier Canadian advertising partner
About the App and the Company
APEX Mobile Media is a leading Canadian advertising partner with years of experience in delivering integrated ad experiences across mobile, Connected TV, and desktop. Through exclusive partnerships with top international ad networks, APEX helps brands connect with their ideal audiences at the right time and place.
With a deep understanding of the Canadian market, the company simplifies digital advertising for brands and helps them maximize reach and engagement. By leveraging advanced data-driven targeting, APEX enables brands to reach consumers based on real-time intent, past purchases, location behavior, and content preferences.
Client Testimonial
DivNotes has successfully created a strong foundation for our proprietary technology, Neptune. It was important to us to have the right foundational pieces in place in order to build on them in the future. DivNotes handled our project like true professionals, making sure every detail was thoroughly covered.
We were impressed with the experience, the great quality of work, and how easy it was to communicate and work with the DivNotes team. It was a pleasure to work with the DivNotes team on our project and we are looking forward to working on more features with them in the future.
Brendan Clark
Director of Technology
The Ask
APEX turned to DivNotes for migrating their database infrastructure to AWS Aurora to safeguard operations and ensure long-term scalability. APEX Mobile was experiencing two critical issues. Their PostgreSQL database was:
- Nearing its capacity to support their growing needs,
- Out of date and required an upgrade to the latest engine version.
As data continued to accumulate, the risk of storage limits being hit, performance degradation and potential downtime increased. As a result, their internal operations and end-users were at risk of slow service, outages, or data inconsistencies.
Their existing database infrastructure lacked the scalability needed
to support future growth, and a more powerful solution was necessary.
Simply increasing storage capacity on PostgreSQL was a short-term fix,
not a long-term solution.
To address this, APEX needed a cloud-based, high-performance database
solution, one that could handle increasing volumes of data while
maintaining seamless performance.
Time was of the essence. If the migration didn't proceed on schedule,
the backup plan was to expand storage on the existing PostgreSQL
instance before revisiting the migration process. But for APEX,
finding a permanent, scalable solution was a top priority.
The Approach
We believe a successful migration requires meticulous planning, execution,
and minimal downtime.
Our approach to solving APEX’s challenge was clear: migrate their PostgreSQL
database to AWS Aurora, ensuring minimal downtime and maximum efficiency. We
took a structured, multi-step approach to make this transition as smooth as
possible.
Our approach involved five steps, starting with Database
Cloning and ending with Deployment. We also maintained a two-phase
migration strategy, in which we first completed a full data copy before
initiating real-time data synchronization. Doing so helped the replica
remain up to date.
Here’s what we exactly did in each step:
Database Cloning
- We started by taking a snapshot of the existing PostgreSQL database to create a cloned environment for testing and validation.
Schema Conversion
- Using AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT), we analyzed and adapted the database schema to work seamlessly with Aurora.
AWS Database Migration Service (DMS) Implementation
- We set up DMS endpoints and configured replication tasks to enable a seamless transfer of data.
Data Validation
- APEX’s team collaborated with us to manually verify data accuracy post-migration.
Production Deployment
- After rigorous testing, we deployed the new Aurora database cluster in production, ensuring that APEX’s services ran smoothly with no disruptions.
Challenges & Solutions
Database nearing capacity with growing data volumes
Migrated to Amazon Aurora to provide elastic scaling and high-performance read/write throughput.
Legacy PostgreSQL engine required upgrade without interrupting production workloads
Designed a two-phase migration strategy (full copy → real-time sync) to enable a seamless cutover with zero downtime.
Schema differences between PostgreSQL and Aurora required precise conversion
Used AWS Schema Conversion Tool (SCT) to analyze, convert, and adapt schema objects for full compatibility.
Ensuring data integrity during and after migration
Implemented replication with AWS Database Migration Service (DMS), followed by manual and automated data validation checks.
Maintaining service availability during switchover
Executed final cutover after full sync and validation, ensuring no disruptions to live services.
The Results & Impact
The successful migration to Amazon Aurora gave APEX a modern, fully managed, and future-proof database infrastructure capable of supporting their growing operational needs.
Key outcomes included:
Zero downtime during cutover, ensuring uninterrupted service for end users.
Elastic scalability, Aurora’s automatic storage scaling ensures they never risk capacity limits again
High availability & fault tolerance, including built-in failover to secondary instances for critical event recovery.
Improved performance through read replicas and intelligent scaling, making it easier to distribute heavy workloads.
Operational simplicity thanks to automated backups, real-time monitoring, and reduced maintenance overhead.
Future-readiness, enabling APEX to scale confidently as data volumes and application demands continue to grow.
Technology Stack
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