Project Information
Country
UAE
Industry
FinTech
Organization Size
Digital banking platform serving customers across the UAE region
Solution Area
Cloud Infrastructure
Disaster Recovery
Kubernetes & Database Platform
Products & Services
• Microsoft Azure
• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Azure SQL Managed Instance
• Microsoft Defender for Cloud
• Azure Backup
• Terraform (Infrastructure as Code)
About the Organization
Yuze Digital runs banking services on cloud infrastructure. As a regulated financial institution, it can’t treat outages casually—extended downtime affects customers and puts the company in a difficult position with regulators. Uninterrupted access to banking services isn’t optional. As Yuze’s digital operations grew, so did the complexity of its infrastructure. The organization needed a disaster recovery environment that could handle regional outages, protect sensitive banking data, stay compliant, and bring critical systems back online fast.
Challenge
The requirements were straightforward on paper. The implementation wasn’t.
1. Cross-subscription database failover
The DR design called for an auto-failover group between Azure SQL managed Instances sitting in separate Azure subscriptions. That configuration isn’t supported natively through Terraform or the Azure portal, which created real delays in getting the DR environment ready.
2. A fully private Kubernetes environment
Security requirements meant the AKS cluster couldn’t expose a public API endpoint. At the same time, workloads running in AKS needed to communicate securely with virtual machine–based applications on the internal network. Private and connected — not a simple combination to configure.
3. Production-level security in a DR environment
Because this was a financial services platform, the DR environment had to follow the same security standards as production: continuous monitoring, protection against accidental data deletion, and configurations that could hold up under compliance audits.
4. No visibility into DR costs
Disaster recovery environments tend to sprawl quietly. Without proper governance, they get expensive fast. Yuze needed clear visibility into what the DR infrastructure was consuming and what it was costing.
5. No Kubernetes backup strategy
The AKS environment had no built-in mechanism for backing up Kubernetes resources or persistent volumes. In a recovery scenario, that’s a significant risk.
Solution
IFI Techsolutions designed and implemented a secure active–passive disaster recovery architecture on Microsoft Azure, deployed across UAE regions to ensure operational continuity and regulatory compliance. The solution introduced a private-by-design infrastructure model that prioritized security, automation, and resilience. Key elements of the implementation included:
- Private Azure Kubernetes Service cluster
A private AKS cluster was deployed to host disaster recovery application workloads while ensuring that the Kubernetes API server remained inaccessible from the public internet. - Cross-region database replication
Azure SQL Managed Instances were configured across regions with an auto-failover group to enable database replication and automated role switching during disaster recovery scenarios. - Secure operational access
To manage private resources securely, we implemented Azure Private Cloud Shell within the virtual network, enabling administrators to access the environment without exposing services publicly. - Security monitoring and protection
Microsoft Defender for Cloud was enabled across DR resources to strengthen the security posture and provide continuous threat monitoring and configuration recommendations. - Infrastructure automation with Terraform
The entire DR environment was deployed using Infrastructure as Code through Terraform, ensuring consistent configuration and reducing the risk of manual configuration drift. - Backup and cost governance
Azure Backup for AKS was implemented to protect Kubernetes resources and persistent volumes. Additionally, a standardized resource tagging strategy was applied across all resources to improve cost visibility and governance.
Architecture Overview
Impact
Following the implementation, Yuze achieved significant improvements in resilience, security, and operational readiness.
- Established a secure Active–Passive disaster recovery architecture between Azure regions in the UAE
- Enabled cross-subscription SQL Managed Instance failover, ensuring database continuity during outages
- Achieved defined Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) and Recovery Point Objectives (RPO)
- Implemented a fully private AKS cluster with secure internal networking
- Strengthened the overall security posture using Microsoft Defender for Cloud
- Reduced risk of accidental data loss through storage deletion protection
- Implemented Kubernetes backup for application resources and persistent volumes
- Automated infrastructure deployment with Terraform for consistent and repeatable environments
- Introduced standardized resource tagging for improved cost visibility and governance
- Optimized DR resource utilization through a baseline capacity with scale-on-demand model
Conclusion
By implementing a secure disaster recovery architecture on Microsoft Azure, IFI Techsolutions helped Yuze Digital establish a resilient and compliant cloud infrastructure capable of supporting its critical banking services.
The solution combined private networking, automated database failover, Kubernetes backup, and infrastructure automation to create a disaster recovery environment that is secure, cost-optimized, and operationally reliable. With this foundation in place, Yuze can maintain uninterrupted service availability while meeting strict regulatory and security requirements in the financial services industry.