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Multi-tenancy was once a term that described a very particular software architecture: Where an application lives on a server for other computers — tenants — to use it.
Over the years, the definition expanded and now describes much more than that. Sometimes we use it for software architecture, sometimes not. Sometimes we use it to explain how we serve or deploy applications, and even how users access them.
At its simplest, the software industry uses multi-tenancy to explain where software or its architecture splits into manageable chunks. These chunks could save money, simplify processes, or make things safer or easier for customers.
Rather than try to unravel the whole term, it's easier to explain the scenarios typically described as multi-tenancy.
Split by customer
Splitting tenancy by customer is a common architecture for Software as Service (SaaS) applications. A SaaS application is software delivered via a subscription model and usually accessed by a web browser. SaaS software providers manage the application's infrastructure so users don't have to.
Multi-tenancy in SaaS sees each customer get the same product but with resources separate from other customers.
For example, your customers would get isolated:
■ Space on your hosting platform
■ Identity management and security functions
■ Databases
Here, your tenants could be your customers or infrastructure.
Split by location or region
This is where organizations, like big enterprises, serve customers worldwide.
Worldwide or regional support usually means accounting for regional differences. That includes region-specific:
■ Content
■ Languages
■ Outage windows
■ Legal requirements
Here, your tenants could be your regional infrastructure.
Split by business model
Your business model could dictate where your application becomes multi-tenancy. The best example is delivering software to many brick-and-mortar locations, like retail chains, hospitals, hotels, and more.
In this scenario, you could be:
■ Working for an international organization delivering software to its worldwide branches
■ An independent organization delivering software to physical locations for many organizations
Here, your tenants could be each store or a group of stores.
Split by hosting solution
Due to strict processes or legal requirements, you may need to deliver your software to your customers' own hosting solutions. This could be common if you support government agencies or businesses in other sensitive industries.
For example, you may need to deliver your software to your customer's own:
■ Cloud services
■ On-premises servers or desktop computers
■ Data centers
■ Hybrid setups
Here, your tenants could be a deployment target or a group of deployment targets.
And everything in between
At this stage, you may be thinking, "our multi-tenancy application fits a couple of these descriptions," and you'd be absolutely right.
These scenarios can crossover, for sure. And some apps may use more than one multi-tenancy variation at different stages.
That's because software development is only growing more complex and with it, the term evolves too. The lines we draw between these scenarios are blurry and will only get blurrier.
Industry News
Red Hat and Oracle announced the expansion of their alliance to offer customers a greater choice in deploying applications on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). As part of the expanded collaboration, Red Hat OpenShift, the industry’s leading hybrid cloud application platform powered by Kubernetes for architecting, building, and deploying cloud-native applications, will be supported and certified to run on OCI.
Harness announced the availability of Gitness™, a freely available, fully open source Git platform that brings a new era of collaboration, speed, security, and intelligence to software development.
Oracle announced new application development capabilities to enable developers to rapidly build and deploy applications on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).
Sonar announced zero-configuration, automatic analysis for programming languages C and C++ within SonarCloud.
DataStax announced a new JSON API for Astra DB – the database-as-a-service built on the open source Apache Cassandra® – delivering on one of the most highly requested user features, and providing a seamless experience for Javascript developers building AI applications.
Mirantis launched Lens AppIQ, available directly in Lens Desktop and as (Software as a Service) SaaS.
Buildkite announced the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Packagecloud, a cloud-based software package management platform, in an all stock deal.
CrowdStrike has agreed to acquire Bionic, a provider of Application Security Posture Management (ASPM).
Perforce Software announces BlazeMeter's Test Data Pro, the latest addition to its continuous testing platform.
CloudBees announced a new cloud native DevSecOps platform that places platform engineers and developer experience front and center.
Akuity announced a new open source tool, Kargo, to implement change promotions across many application life cycle stages using GitOps principles.
Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. announced that it has been recognized on Newsweek’s inaugural list of the World’s Most Trustworthy Companies 2023.
CloudBees announced significant performance and scalability breakthroughs for Jenkins® with new updates to its CloudBees Continuous Integration (CI) software.