What is Multi-Tenancy?
Multi-Tenancy is defined as a software architecture where a single instance of an application runs on a server and serves multiple distinct client organizations, called tenants.
Detailed Architectural Context
Multi-tenancy is the core architectural requirement of SaaS platforms. In a multi-tenant application, all clients share the same server infrastructure, codebase, and database instance, yet their data is strictly isolated. This approach dramatically reduces hosting costs and simplifies software maintenance, as updates can be pushed to all users simultaneously. A key challenge in multi-tenancy is implementing foolproof tenant isolation to prevent data leaks between competitors.
Related Technical Terms
SaaS (Software as a Service)
A cloud-based software licensing model where applications are hosted by a provider and accessed by users over the internet, typically via subscription.
Tenant Isolation
The security strategy in multi-tenant software that ensures one tenant can never access, modify, or view the data of another tenant.
Row-Level Security (RLS)
A database-level security policy that controls access to specific rows in a database table based on the characteristics of the user executing a query.
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