Multi-tenancy is the buzzword of modern app development. The popularity of cloud computing and SaaS platforms further drive multi-tenancy adoption. For a mobile application development agency, SaaS or software-as-a-service deals with offering applications in the form of a service over the Internet. Implementing the multi tenant architecture facilitates faster and efficient scaling of SaaS through seamless resource sharing.
Large corporations and small businesses can benefit immensely by leveraging multi tenancy. It helps them optimize resources by limiting public cloud usage, consolidating resources, and making cloud access consistent and affordable.
Here, we will try to comprehend the concept of multi tenant architecture and see how it designs efficient SaaS applications.
Multi Tenant Architecture Vs. Single Tenant Architecture
To understand the nuances of multi tenant architecture, we must compare it with single-tenant architecture. Single-tenancy and multi tenancy are vital approaches that a mobile development agency will generally take when designing SaaS platforms.
A multi tenant architecture allows multiple customers to access a single app instance yet keep the data separate. Hence, it is cost- and resource-effective. Further, its inherent scalability helps businesses grow their customer base while saving money.
Alternatively, single tenancy lets users get a dedicated app instance. This approach ensures complete data isolation. It also custom-suits business needs but is more expensive and difficult to scale.
Both architectural paradigms have separate pros and cons. Developers involved in saas application development must weigh all of them to ensure project success. However, statistics show multi tenant architecture as the preferred choice. Following the best practices of multi tenancy facilitates the seamless execution of the SaaS app and makes it scalable and future-proof. Multi-tenancy also helps optimize resources and facilitate easy maintainability. This is another factor that contributes to its popularity.
Defining The Multi Tenant Architecture
The success of a SaaS app built using the multi tenant architecture depends on the developer’s depth of understanding. So, let us explore multi-tenancy in some detail. As mentioned earlier, the same infrastructure and resources get shared in multi-tenancy. Hence, each user or tenant enjoys a dedicated software instance but works in a separate virtual environment. This is made possible by partitioning the SaaS software data and configuration. Thus, SaaS apps can offer complete tenant privacy and data isolation despite sharing resources. That is why mobile application development companies prefer designing SaaS applications using the multi tenant architecture.
Further, different SaaS applications can leverage different types of multi tenant architecture. This enhances their usability for different business types. Let us look at the important types of multi-tenancy models available for SaaS apps.
Database-per-tenant
Here, individual tenants get a dedicated database. The SaaS app can also scale both horizontally and vertically. Improving node quality helps achieve horizontal scaling, while to enable vertical scaling, developers must augment the resources for every node present. Further, developers can even partition databases meant for the same resource groups to form flexible pools. SaaS app vendors are allowed to shift tenant databases within these pools, further streamlining resource management.
Single multi tenant databases
The presence of tenant identifier array columns characterize this multi-tenant database. SaaS computational resources and storage get distributed among the app’s tenants. This further reduces the per-tenant costs, making it a favorite architecture mode for a mobile application development agency. However, it comes with one rider. Any increase in the workload of a single tenant can potentially impact the performance of the service for the other tenants.
Sharded multi-tenant databases
Sharding is a technique that facilitates the spread of tenant data across multiple databases. Any increase in the workload will result in the heavily populated shards getting divided into several less congested nodes. These nodes can also be recombined just as effortlessly. Additionally, developers can also integrate sharded databases to form elastic pools. This further augments operational management and improves app scalability to a greater extent.
Hybrid-sharded multi-tenant databases
The hybrid-sharded multi-tenant configuration is most effective when used for multiple distinguishable tenant groups with differing resource requirements. Here, tenants or tenant groups get transitioned between shared and exclusive databases. Hence, it can cater to tenants with varying resource requirements.
Advantages Of Applying Multi Tenant Architecture For Saas Applications
A mobile application development agency prefers the multi tenant architecture for SaaS apps because of the advantages it offers. The important ones include:
Cost-effectiveness
The cumulative SaaS development costs diminish when based on the multi tenant architecture. This is made possible by apportioning the infrastructure, application, and resources within a group of tenants. Thus, the hardware costs also go down, as do the upkeep expenses and software license costs. This makes SaaS applications accessible to all types of businesses, ranging from start-ups to SMEs and even large organizations.
Scalability
Achieve the horizontal scaling of SaaS applications by leveraging multi tenant architecture. Developers can seamlessly add additional resources and servers to keep up with growing demands as and when required. The fact that SaaS applications are highly stable, even when scaled, helps them offer performance consistency. Hence, even when the user base or tenant traffic increases, there is no dip in app performance or user experience.
Streamlined maintenance and updates
This is one of the most significant benefits of a multi tenant architecture for a software application development company. Here, developers can implement updates and patches within a single application. Hence, all tenants benefit concurrently, further improving the efficiency of the SaaS app. It also minimizes the downtime. By expediting app maintenance and updates, the multi tenant architecture makes it easy for the involved tenants to access the latest features and improvements.
Optimization of resources
Multi tenancy helps SaaS apps optimize resources by pooling and allocating them dynamically as required. This results in superior resource utilization, thereby augmenting the overall efficiency of the system. Some resources that witness optimal usage include memory, processing power, storage, etc.
Customization and flexibility
Tenants can also configure and customize a multi-tenancy-based SaaS application easily. Thus, even when sharing resources and the same application instance, tenants can enjoy a tailored experience that caters to their unique needs. A mobile development company achieves all this without impacting the performance of use of the other tenants.
Enhanced data security
Stringently maintaining strict security protocols and prioritizing data isolation makes multi-tenant environments extremely secure. Here, by ensuring the security and privacy of individual tenant data, developers can reduce the chances of a data breach. Further, leveraging the multi-tenant architecture enables a mobile application development agency to follow all data protection regulations and security compliances. Thus, SaaS providers can implement robust security measures throughout the application to enhance its security.
Reduced time to market
When developers employ multi tenancy to build a SaaS application, its development and deployment occur quickly. Hence, there is a significant reduction in the app’s time to market. Also, by quickly deploying novel features and services, developers can empower tenants so they can implement innovative solutions and gain a competitive edge.
Tenant Data Isolation Within A Multi Tenant Architecture: A Short Note
A multi-tenant-based SaaS app ecosystem functions by sharing its resources and app instances. However, data isolation is an essential aspect of this ecosystem. Let us see how developers can achieve the same. They employ specific methods that regulate resource access. These methods also ensure that individual tenant resources stay secluded even when operating within a shared environment.
One crucial point is that tenant isolation diverges from standard security practices like authorization, authentication, access control, etc. Here, developers achieve isolation by leveraging a selection of techniques and tools based on the specific needs of the app. These are further selected based on the analysis of the current tenant context and utilizing the insights to establish the resources the tenant can access. Some of the critical tenant isolation models that a mobile application development agency can employ include:
- Silo isolation, where there is an absolute separation of the data, resources, and app logic that a tenant uses
- Pool isolation, where tenants get classified into groups based on a shared characteristic and each group shares a discrete set of app logic, data and resources
- Bridge isolation, where tenants retain separate databases while sharing app logic and resources
- Tier-based isolation seggregates tenants based on their subscription models or service levels, and tenants within the same tier share app logic, data, and resources
The silo isolation provides tenants with maximum data isolation but tends to increase maintenance and resource costs. Pool isolation helps the SaaS application achieve both data isolation and resource efficiency. While the bridge model offers greater data isolation than pool isolation, it requires more resources to enable the same. Lastly, disparate tiers within the tier-based isolation models enjoy varying degrees of data isolation.
Best Practices For Building A Multi Tenant Architecture Saas Application
A mobile application development agency must implement certain best practices to maximize the benefits of multi tenancy for SaaS applications. These include:
- Planning for the stability of the entire SaaS environment beforehand to accommodate fluctuating workloads and a growing number of users
- Prioritizing data isolation and security by integrating strict isolation and security mechanisms such as tenant-specific encryption, separate schemas, regular security updates and patches, access control, etc.
- Monitoring app performance and resource utilization must remain critical performance indicators so developers can use the analytics obtained to detect performance bottlenecks, optimize resource allocation, and promptly address all issues that arise
- Implementing automation and orchestration helps streamline the development, deployment, management, and scalability of SaaS apps without manual intervention to enhance process efficiency and consistency
- Defining SLAs or Service Level Agreements by clearly defining performance, availability, and support metrics, precisely differentiating service tiers, establishing reasonable expectations, making provisions for continuous improvement, regular system monitoring and report compliances, etc.
These best practices will help developers and tenants establish a win-win relationship that will benefit both parties.
Conclusion
The multi tenant architecture based SaaS application market is evolving rapidly. Hence, businesses must keep up with these growing trends. They must collaborate with a mobile application development agency with considerable experience and knowledge about multi tenant architecture. Such a collaboration will lead to the development of SaaS applications that are functionally brilliant and absolutely secure.
