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Multi tenant what is

In this instance each tenant might represent a business unit or customer organization requiring access to an isolated group of resources servers and applications. Each tenant may have different requirements based on their needs such as security protocols, compliance requirements, budget allocations. A multi-tenant load balancer can manage the requirements for each of these different tenants within the same central management cluster.

Originally, multitenancy simply referred to a single software instance that serves multiple tenants. However, the term multi-tenant has broadened in meaning beyond software multitenancy thanks to modern cloud computing, and now also refers to shared cloud infrastructure. In cloud computing, online users access data and applications that are hosted in various data centers by remote servers. Instead of locating applications and data on servers on the premises of a company or on smartphones, laptops, and other individual client devices, they are centralized in the cloud.

The ease and convenience of accessing multiple apps and platforms from various devices has, in part, driven the explosion of cloud-based multi tenant applications. Multitenant architecture, multi tenant architecture, or multitenancy architecture in cloud computing refers to multiple cloud vendor customers using shared computing resources.

Without multitenancy or multi-tenant architecture, cloud services including containers, IaaS, PaaS, serverless computing, and software-as-a-service SaaS would be far less practical. Multi tenant architecture references a single instance of the software, such as one workable application, that runs on the multi-tenant cloud infrastructure provided by the cloud vendor, such as Azure, AWS, or GCP, to simultaneously serve the needs of multiple customers. Some multi-tenant architecture examples would be Hubspot, Github, and Salesforce.

Users can customize some features, such as notifications or themes, but core application code remains intact and cannot be changed by tenants. Within the realm of application delivery, a multi-tenant architecture is one that can handle different policies for each entity requiring access to each pool of resources. This means one central management control plane, can govern application services for different tenants.

Those tenants may access different applications, with distinct SLAs and security policies, but the ADC will handle them centrally, providing visibility across the tenant environment. There are several ways to think about the differences between single tenancy versus multitenancy. A classic way of thinking about single tenant architecture versus multi-tenant architecture is the analogy of a single family home versus an apartment building.

However, there are drawbacks in privacy with this housing analogy that do not necessarily exist in a cloud environment. A better analogy for understanding multitenancy might be how multiple customers use a bank. The many users of such a facility mostly are unaware of each other, and enjoy much greater security due to their shared amenities. Although they may be shared in a common location, assets are completely separate. Users of public cloud computing platforms access the same servers and other infrastructure while maintaining separate business logic and data.

And while originally multi-tenant architecture referred to one instance of software that served multiple tenants, modern cloud computing has expanded multitenancy to include shared cloud infrastructure.

Within application delivery, a single tenant might represent an individual customer, a business unit, a function within an organization or team.

Multi-tenancy then refers to a combination of those business units, teams or customers, each of which might have their own requirements, resources and cost centers.

To better compare single tenancy and multi-tenant platforms, consider their basic structures, benefits, and drawbacks:. In single tenant SaaS architecture the client is the tenant.

Each user has supporting infrastructure and a dedicated server in the single tenant environment. Users cannot share single tenant products, but they can customize them to their exact requirements. A subdivision with one basic model home that can be customized is a metaphor for a single tenant SaaS environment. In this kind of neighborhood community, the basic floor plan and infrastructure are designed and built by the same engineer, but each household uses its own infrastructure and can modify it as needed.

Similarly, each user in a single tenant architecture can customize their individual software instance to meet their business requirements. Single tenant environments are more reliable because the activities of one user cannot affect anyone else. Easier Backup and Restoration.

Because all user data is stored in account-specific locations, teams can more easily restore previous settings. Individual Upgrades. Easier Migration. Migrating to a self-hosted environment from a SaaS environment is easier because it is simpler to export and transfer data that is all stored in one space.

Typically, single tenancy costs more than multi-tenant cloud architecture. Multitenancy is a reference to the mode of operation of software where multiple independent instances of one or multiple applications operate in a shared environment. The instances tenants are logically isolated, but physically integrated.

The degree of logical isolation must be complete, but the degree of physical integration will vary. The more physical integration, the harder it is to preserve the logical isolation. The tenants application instances can be representations of organizations that obtained access to the multitenant application this is the scenario of an ISV offering services of an application to multiple customer organizations.

The tenants may also be multiple applications competing for shared underlying resources this is the scenario of a private or public cloud where multiple applications are offered in a common cloud environment. Join your peers for the unveiling of the latest insights at Gartner conferences. Expert insights and strategies to address your priorities and solve your most pressing challenges. Register Now. Information Technology Gartner Glossary. Essentially, there is no sharing happening with this option.

Multi-Tenant — Multi-tenancy means that a single instance of the software and its supporting infrastructure serves multiple customers. Each customer shares the software application and also shares a single database. Multi-tenant solutions are designed to be highly configurable so that businesses can make the application perform the way they want. There is no changing the code or data structure, making the upgrade process easy.

Software development and maintenance costs are shared, driving down expenditures, resulting in savings that are passed onto you, the customers. Multi-tenancy is just one of multiple benefits of SaaS. You can watch the full webinar here. Tags: Data Protection , Company Information. View the discussion thread. Increase ROI and Reduce Risk with SaaS Deployed Security Read this whitepaper to learn the top reasons why cloud-based data security drives efficiencies and increases your effectiveness.