A Non-intrusive Multi-tenant Database Software for Large Scale SaaS Application

Abstract

Multi-tenant is a key characteristic for cost effective Software as a Service (SaaS) applications which drive down total cost of ownership for both service consumers and providers. This paper describes our research in designing & building a cost-effective, secure, customizable, scalable and non-intrusive multi-tenant database which greatly accelerates the migration and development of SaaS applications. We analyze the requirements and gaps in traditional database when supporting SaaS scenario, and then propose a novel nonintrusive multi-tenant database framework to address these challenges. Some key considerations and different implementation approaches in designing and implementation such a framework are discussed and compared. This paper also identifies some potential database performance optimization approaches in the multi-tenant scenario.

A Framework for Multi-Tenant Database Adoption based on the Influencing Factors

“…Gao et al [6] also explains along this line that the maximum number of tenants supported by multi-tenant system should increase in direct proportion to the increase of resources. This will ensure that the performance level of each tenant will remain in an acceptable level.…”

“…Some of the security issues related to Multi-tenancy Database include data isolation among the tenants. Gao et al [6] mention some of the challenges facing the ISVs (Independent Service Vendor/Provider) in delivering their service these include the data security isolation among tenant, the different tenants having different SLA demand, customization requirements and effective database scale out mechanism as the number of tenant increases. Hui et al [16] itemises the problems faced in providing database as a service which includes security, contention for shared resources and extensibility.…”

“…Gao et al [6] explains security in terms of isolation among tenants. Gao et al argues that access to other tenants' data is sometimes granted by the system admin but if not controlled can be a source of data leakage.…”

“…In a Multi-tenant enabled service environment, user requests from different organizations and companies (tenants) are served concurrently by one or more hosted application instances and databases based on a scalable, shared hardware and software infrastructure [6]. Such a database system must be able to maintain or even increase its performance or efficiency level under larger operational demands.…”

A Systematic Mapping Study on the Current Status of Total Cost of Ownership for Information Systems

“…[PS29] proposes to host a SCADA (Supervisory control and data acquisition) system on the cloud. [PS23] and [PS54] propose to host multiple tenants in the same database to reduce TCO. [PS58] extends the idea of multi-tenant database to multi-tenant business applications by having many consumers using the same instance of a business application.…”