What should be your initial step in preparing an e-commerce application for the busy season after migrating to GCP?

The initial step in preparing an e-commerce application for the busy season after migrating to Google Cloud Platform (GCP) should be to load test the application to profile performance and scaling needs. Load testing allows you to simulate the expected traffic patterns during peak times and assess how well your application and infrastructure can handle that load. This process will help identify bottlenecks and performance issues before the busy season begins, allowing for timely adjustments to optimize performance and ensure a seamless user experience.

By conducting load tests, you can gather metrics on response times, throughput, and system resource usage, which are critical for understanding how the application will behave under stress. This data can inform decisions about resource allocation, potential need for scaling, and any necessary changes to the application architecture.

While enabling AutoScaling and provisioning extra compute power can be advantageous, these steps should be based on concrete data from load testing rather than assumptions about past usage. Similarly, having a runbook for disaster recovery is important, but it is secondary to ensuring that the application is thoroughly tested to handle the expected load, as failure in peak times can have immediate and detrimental effects on customer experience and revenue.