The Challenge
A healthcare analytics company was running hundreds of daily data pipelines on Cloud Composer v1. With Google announcing end-of-support for v1, they needed to upgrade while facing several challenges:
- 200+ DAGs with complex dependencies and custom operators
- Zero tolerance for pipeline failures due to regulatory requirements
- Legacy Python 2.7 code in some DAGs requiring migration
- High infrastructure costs from over-provisioned v1 environments
- Limited Airflow expertise in-house for complex migrations
Our Approach
CloudBrainy developed a comprehensive upgrade strategy that prioritized reliability and minimal disruption:
- Complete DAG inventory and compatibility assessment
- Python 2.7 to 3.x migration for legacy code
- Composer 2 environment sizing and optimization
- Parallel environment strategy for safe rollout
- Automated testing framework for DAG validation
- Phased migration with gradual traffic shifting
Key Deliverables
DAG Modernization
200+ DAGs upgraded to Airflow 2.x best practices
Performance Optimization
Right-sized Composer 2 environment configuration
Testing Framework
Automated CI/CD pipeline with DAG validation
Runbooks & Training
Comprehensive documentation and team enablement
Results & Impact
50%
Cost Reduction
3x
Faster DAG Parsing
Zero
Pipeline Failures During Migration
99.9%
Pipeline Success Rate