DoubleCloud

DoubleCloud: Build Data Analytics Infrastructure in One Day

DoubleCloud was a platform designed to streamline data pipelines by offering fully managed, zero-maintenance open-source solutions. The platform aimed to save time and costs, integrating everything from data ingestion to real-time visualization. Although DoubleCloud has wound down operations, its functionalities and features offer valuable insights into modern data analytics infrastructure.

What was DoubleCloud? DoubleCloud provided a suite of managed open-source services and tools designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of data analytics solutions. It allowed users to leverage open-source technologies without the overhead of managing the infrastructure themselves.

How did DoubleCloud work? The platform offered several key components:

• Open-Source Services: Managed services for ClickHouse, Kafka, and Airflow on Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Data Integration Engine: A no-code ELT (Extract, Load, Transform) tool for real-time data syncing between systems.
• Real-Time Visualization: Managed open-source data visualization tools for building charts and dashboards.

Key Features and Benefits:

• Fully Managed Services: DoubleCloud handled routine maintenance tasks such as software updates, sharding, backups, and auto-scaling.
• Exceptional Performance: Built on ClickHouse, the platform enabled real-time analytics with query speeds up to 100x faster than leading DBMS.
• Developer Experience: Features included automated deployment using Terraform or API, metrics export via Prometheus, logs integration, a web-based SQL IDE, and built-in data transformations using dbt.
• Security: Enforced TLS 1.2+ encryption, dedicated VMs for software delivery, and compliance with ISO 27001, SOC 2, GDPR, and other industry standards.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Pay-as-you-go pricing, BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud) options, S3 hybrid storage, and free services like auto-backups and cross-AZ traffic.

Use Cases:

DoubleCloud catered to a variety of use cases, including:

• Real-Time Sports Analytics: LSports improved their query speed by 180x using DoubleCloud and ClickHouse.
• Logging & Metrics: Neon enhanced the granularity of resource consumption metrics for new subscription plans.
• End-User Analytics: Yango Tech launched partner-facing analytics in just one week.
• Monitoring: Honeybadger migrated from Elasticsearch to boost performance and launch a new health app monitoring service.

Why was DoubleCloud important? DoubleCloud aimed to democratize access to powerful data analytics tools by simplifying the deployment and management of open-source technologies. It allowed companies to focus on product development rather than infrastructure maintenance.

Key Technologies:

• ClickHouse: An open-source OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) database known for its speed and efficiency in querying large datasets. ClickHouse is central to DoubleCloud's promise of delivering real-time analytics.
• Apache Kafka: A distributed event streaming platform used for building real-time data pipelines and streaming applications.
• Apache Airflow: A workflow management platform for authoring, scheduling, and monitoring data pipelines.

How to use (Used to use) DoubleCloud:

1. Sign up and get free credits.
2. Select a cloud provider, region, and the necessary resources.
3. Transfer data to ClickHouse in real-time.
4. Enjoy exceptional performance and speed.

Conclusion:

Although DoubleCloud is no longer operational, it exemplified how managed open-source services could simplify data analytics infrastructure. Its focus on performance, developer experience, security, and cost-effectiveness provided a compelling solution for companies looking to harness the power of data.