// Overview
The VSAT Network Manager is a mission-critical system designed to monitor and manage satellite communication networks across multiple continents. It handles real-time telemetry from thousands of remote terminals, providing operators with instant visibility into network health and performance.
This system has been running in production for over 10 years, processing millions of data points daily while maintaining 99.9% uptime. The architecture was designed for reliability first, with graceful degradation and automatic failover mechanisms.
// Architecture
The system follows a layered architecture with clear separation between data collection, processing, storage, and presentation layers. Each component can be scaled independently based on load requirements.
// Key Features
- Real-time network performance monitoring and analytics
- Automated trouble ticketing with third-party integration
- Detailed fault management and SLA reporting
- Modem location tracking and status monitoring
- Customizable interface with multiple authorization levels
- Support for hybrid terrestrial and satellite networks
- Portal integration and RESTful API capabilities
// Challenges & Solutions
Challenge: Handling bursty traffic patterns when thousands of terminals report status simultaneously.
Solution: Implemented a message queue with configurable batching and rate limiting. The collector buffers incoming data and processes it in optimized batches, reducing database load by 70%.
Challenge: Maintaining responsiveness while querying large historical datasets.
Solution: Designed a tiered storage strategy with hot/warm/cold data partitions. Recent data stays in optimized tables, while older data is automatically archived to compressed storage with summary tables for fast queries.
// What I'd Improve
- Migrate from polling to event-driven architecture using WebSockets
- Add containerization for easier deployment and scaling
- Implement time-series database for metrics storage
- Add machine learning for predictive failure detection