Architecture Overview
ChatETS is built on a modern, scalable cloud-native architecture designed for enterprise reliability, security, and performance.
1. System Architecture
| Layer |
Technology |
Purpose |
| Frontend |
React 18, TypeScript, Vite, TailwindCSS |
Modern SPA with SSR support |
| Backend API |
Laravel 11 (PHP 8.2+), RESTful + WebSocket |
Business logic, authentication, orchestration |
| Database |
MySQL 8.0+ / PostgreSQL 15+ |
Transactional data, user management |
| Cache |
Redis 7+ |
Session management, API rate limiting |
| Queue/Jobs |
Laravel Horizon (Redis), Supervisor |
Async processing, background tasks |
| AI/LLM |
OpenAI GPT-4, Anthropic Claude, LM Studio (local) |
Natural language processing, responses |
| Vector DB |
ChromaDB, Pinecone (optional) |
RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) |
| Storage |
S3-compatible (AWS, MinIO, Wasabi) |
Document uploads, exports, backups |
| Web Server |
Apache 2.4+ / Nginx 1.24+ |
Reverse proxy, SSL termination |
2. Infrastructure Requirements
Minimum Specifications (10-25 users)
- CPU: 4 vCPUs (x86_64, 2.5 GHz+)
- RAM: 16 GB
- Storage: 100 GB SSD (root), 500 GB for data/backups
- Network: 1 Gbps, public IPv4 address
- OS: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Debian 12, RHEL 9, or Amazon Linux 2023
Recommended Specifications (50-100 users)
- CPU: 8 vCPUs
- RAM: 32 GB
- Storage: 200 GB SSD (root), 2 TB for data
- Load Balancer: HAProxy or AWS ALB
- Database: Multi-AZ RDS or managed MySQL cluster
Enterprise Specifications (1000+ users)
- Auto-Scaling: 3-10 app servers (8 vCPU, 32 GB each)
- Database: Read replicas, multi-region replication
- Cache: Redis Cluster (3-node minimum)
- CDN: CloudFront, Cloudflare, or Fastly
- Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack
3. Integration Capabilities
3.1 Authentication & Identity
| Protocol |
Status |
Use Case |
| SAML 2.0 |
✅ Production |
Enterprise SSO (Okta, Azure AD, OneLogin) |
| OIDC (OpenID Connect) |
✅ Production |
OAuth 2.0 SSO (Google, GitHub, custom) |
| LDAP / Active Directory |
✅ Production |
On-premise directory sync |
| MFA (TOTP, WebAuthn) |
✅ Production |
Multi-factor authentication |
3.2 API & Webhooks
# REST API Authentication
curl -X POST https://chat.ets-corp.com/api/auth/login \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"email": "user@company.com", "password": "***"}'
# Bearer Token Usage
curl -X POST https://chat.ets-corp.com/api/conversations \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"message": "Explain brake thermal efficiency"}'
3.3 Data Export/Import
- Export Formats: JSON, CSV, XML, Excel
- Bulk Export API: Paginated REST endpoints
- Webhooks: Real-time event streaming (conversation.created, user.registered, etc.)
- SCIM Provisioning: Automated user lifecycle management
4. Security & Compliance
4.1 Encryption
- In Transit: TLS 1.3, HTTPS-only, HSTS enabled
- At Rest: AES-256 encryption for database, S3, backups
- Key Management: AWS KMS, Azure Key Vault, or HSM
- Certificate Management: Let's Encrypt auto-renewal
4.2 Network Security
- Firewall: VPC Security Groups, Network ACLs
- DDoS Protection: Cloudflare, AWS Shield
- WAF: ModSecurity, AWS WAF, Cloudflare WAF
- IP Whitelisting: Optional per-tenant IP restrictions
- VPN/Private Link: Site-to-site VPN, AWS PrivateLink support
4.3 Application Security
- Input Validation: OWASP Top 10 protections
- SQL Injection: Parameterized queries, ORM-only access
- XSS Protection: Content Security Policy (CSP), output escaping
- CSRF Protection: Token-based validation
- Rate Limiting: Per-user, per-IP, per-endpoint throttling
4.4 Audit & Logging
- Activity Logs: User actions, API calls, admin operations
- Retention: 7 years (configurable)
- Export: Syslog, S3, Splunk, ELK
- Alerting: PagerDuty, OpsGenie, Slack integration
5. Deployment Options
5.1 Cloud SaaS (Recommended)
Multi-Tenant SaaS
Best for: Teams up to 100 users, fast time-to-value
Hosting: AWS US-East-1 (primary), US-West-2 (DR)
Uptime SLA: 99.9%
Onboarding: < 1 hour
5.2 Private Cloud (Single-Tenant)
Dedicated VPC
Best for: 100+ users, data residency requirements
Hosting: AWS, Azure, GCP (customer account or ours)
Isolation: Dedicated database, Redis, app servers
Onboarding: 2-4 weeks
5.3 On-Premise (Air-Gapped)
Customer Infrastructure
Best for: Sensitive IP, compliance, air-gapped networks
Deployment: Docker Compose, Kubernetes, or LAMP stack
AI Backend: Local LM Studio (no external API calls)
Onboarding: 4-8 weeks
6. Monitoring & Observability
Built-In Metrics
- Health Checks: /health, /metrics (Prometheus format)
- Performance: Response time, throughput, error rate
- Business Metrics: Active users, conversations/day, API usage
- Dashboards: Grafana, Datadog, New Relic compatible
Log Aggregation
- Application Logs: Laravel structured logging (JSON)
- Web Server Logs: Apache/Nginx access & error logs
- Aggregation: Fluent Bit, Logstash, CloudWatch Logs
7. Disaster Recovery & Business Continuity
Backup Strategy
| Component |
Frequency |
Retention |
RTO |
RPO |
| Database |
Hourly snapshots |
30 days |
< 1 hour |
< 1 hour |
| File Storage (S3) |
Continuous replication |
Indefinite |
< 5 min |
0 (real-time) |
| Configuration |
Git-based (immutable) |
Indefinite |
< 15 min |
0 |
High Availability
- Multi-AZ Deployment: Application servers across 3 availability zones
- Database: Multi-AZ RDS with read replicas
- Load Balancer: Health checks, automatic failover
- Auto-Scaling: CPU/memory-based scaling (3-10 instances)
8. Performance & Scalability
Performance Targets
| Metric |
Target |
Notes |
| Page Load (95th percentile) |
< 2 seconds |
Time to interactive |
| API Response (95th percentile) |
< 500 ms |
Non-AI endpoints |
| AI Response (streaming) |
< 2 sec first token |
Time to first word |
| Concurrent Users |
10,000+ |
Per cluster |
| Database Connections |
500 per instance |
Connection pooling |
Scalability Testing
- Load Testing: k6, Locust (tested to 50K concurrent users)
- Stress Testing: Automated monthly tests
- Capacity Planning: Quarterly reviews, proactive scaling
9. Support & Operations
Runbook Automation
- Zero-Downtime Deploys: Blue-green deployment, rolling updates
- Database Migrations: Automated, reversible, tested in staging
- Rollback: One-click rollback to previous version
- Health Checks: Automated smoke tests post-deploy
Incident Response
- On-Call Rotation: 24/7 SRE coverage (Enterprise tier)
- Escalation: L1 → L2 → Engineering → VP → CEO
- Communication: Status page, email, Slack integration
- Post-Mortems: Root cause analysis within 48 hours