Case Study

iQIYI, one of China's largest video streaming platforms with hundreds of millions of users, operates a massive data infrastructure to support content delivery, personalization, and real-time analytics. As the company pursued a cloud-native transformation on Baidu Cloud, the legacy Kafka architecture presented significant friction:

• Kubernetes Incompatibility: Traditional Kafka's reliance on local, stateful storage made it difficult to deploy and manage effectively on Kubernetes. StatefulSets and persistent volumes added complexity, and scaling required intricate operational procedures.
• Lack of Architectural Agility: The tight coupling of compute and storage meant that any change—whether scaling, upgrading, or migrating—required careful coordination and often resulted in service disruptions. This rigidity slowed down the overall cloud-native journey.
• Ecosystem Lock-in Concerns: Any new streaming solution had to integrate seamlessly with iQIYI's existing ecosystem of producers, consumers, and tooling. A disruptive migration was not an option.

iQIYI chose AutoMQ to accelerate their cloud-native transformation without sacrificing compatibility.

• Kubernetes-Native by Design: AutoMQ's stateless broker architecture is purpose-built for containerized environments. By offloading persistence to Baidu Cloud's object storage, brokers can be deployed as simple, stateless Pods that scale, roll, and heal like any other microservice.
• 100% Kafka API Compatibility: AutoMQ provides full compatibility with the Apache Kafka protocol. iQIYI's existing producers, consumers, Kafka Streams applications, and operational tooling worked without modification, eliminating migration risk.
• Decoupled Storage for Agility: By separating compute from storage, AutoMQ enables iQIYI to independently scale and manage each layer. This architectural decoupling provides the flexibility needed to evolve the platform rapidly in response to changing business needs.

Accelerated Cloud-Native Transformation

The integration of AutoMQ has been a key enabler for iQIYI's infrastructure modernization.

• True Kubernetes-Native Operations: iQIYI can now manage Kafka like any other cloud-native service. Deployments, scaling, and rolling updates are handled through standard Kubernetes mechanisms, dramatically simplifying operations.
• Seamless Integration: The 100% API compatibility meant that the transition was transparent to applications. No code changes were required, and the existing operational knowledge of the team remained fully applicable.
• Architectural Freedom: With storage decoupled to Baidu Cloud's object storage, iQIYI now has the flexibility to independently optimize and scale their streaming infrastructure. This agility is crucial for a fast-moving entertainment platform.