Projects

Cloud migration and GCP data pipelines

GCP
Cloud SQL
Airflow (Composer)
SQL
Python
SFTP

Lessons and outcomes from migrating from on-premises to GCP.

Project illustration.

Overview

This project was delivered as a freelance engagement (~30 hours total) to modernize the data architecture and address critical issues from manual pipeline runs and on-premises infrastructure.


The problem

Processing relied on Python scripts executed manually, backed by a local PostgreSQL database. That setup had several limitations:

⚠️ No automation or orchestration for pipelines.
⚠️ High operational risk from manual execution.
⚠️ Limited scalability and maintainability.
⚠️ No centralized, reliable cloud environment.
⚠️ Weak handling of credentials and sensitive variables.
⚠️ Limited traceability and monitoring of runs.


The solution

The architecture was modernized with a cloud migration and orchestrated pipelines:

  1. Database migration

    • Move from local PostgreSQL to Cloud SQL (PostgreSQL 14) on GCP
    • Higher availability, scalability, and reliability
  2. Orchestration with Airflow (Cloud Composer)

    • DAGs to automate pipelines
    • Daily, weekly, and monthly schedules
    • Robust, reusable workflows
  3. SFTP integration

    • Ingestion over SFTP
    • End-to-end automation of collection and loading
  4. Secrets and sensitive variables

    • GCP-native secret storage integrated with DAGs
  5. Standards and governance

    • Code and pipelines aligned to best practices
    • Better observability and traceability

Results

  • 100% automated runs, removing manual steps.
  • Stronger security for credential management.
  • Scalable, reliable infrastructure on GCP.
  • Fewer operational errors and less rework.
  • Better visibility via Airflow.
  • More consistent, predictable ingestion.
  • A solid foundation for future platform evolution.