How Instacart Achieved 50% Better Performance with 70% Fewer Nodes

Instacart successfully enhanced its ad-serving feature store's performance by migrating from a managed Valkey solution to Dragonfly, resulting in a 50% reduction in latency and a 70% reduction in node usage within weeks. The migration was driven by the need to address the existing infrastructure's limitations, such as instability during cluster mutations, high tail latency due to data spread across numerous nodes, and escalating costs. Dragonfly's multi-threaded, shared-nothing architecture allowed Instacart to scale vertically on each node, leading to a more stable, cost-effective system. The transition involved setting up a Dragonfly cluster alongside the existing system, backfilling it with data, and gradually shifting traffic. This process required client-side tuning and engine-level improvements, ultimately achieving superior performance across all latency percentiles. The migration not only enhanced Instacart's operational control and efficiency but also provided significant infrastructure reductions, allowing for controlled upgrades and easier management. Tristan Fletcher, reflecting on the project, emphasized the importance of understanding data access patterns, abstracting storage layers, and being intentional about storage formats and key design to avoid compounded issues at scale.

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