Multi-tenancy is the foundational process of cloud computing. It operates in degrees that help incorporate all layers of both public and private cloud systems. It offers easy customization between groups and individuals and is capable of delivering full economy of scale.

What Is a Tenant Application?

A tenant is any kind of application, be it inside or outside the enterprise, that requires its own exclusive and secure computing environment. The environment in question can encompass either a comprehensive or selective set of layers within the enterprise architecture, with permissions ranging from cloud storage to user interface. All tenants in a multi-tenant environment need to have multi-user capability.

To demonstrate the range of applications that fall under the cover of multi-tenant, consider that a tenant application can be one that manages data within the private cloud environment of an SMB, or it can be an application for a global marketing initiative pushing catalogs for a public cloud network. Both applications have the same requirements for tenancy, irrespective of their size, their internal or external placement, or the number of users that share permissions.

What Is Multi-Tenancy?

Multi-tenancy is the primary common attribute of public and private cloud environments. It applies to all three layers within a cloud, those being its Infrastructure-as-a-Service or IaaS, its Platform-as-a-Service or PaaS, and its Software-as-a-Service or SaaS.

Incorporating shared services that span all three layers makes an application multi-tenant. When that structure is established, users can utilize a broad spectrum of services from the cloud, beginning with the hardware and continuing up the line to the user interface layer.

Client- or Department-Based Tenants

Multi-tenancy allows each client or department on the software service to be granted different access permissions based on the backup requirements of each along with the number of versions of each file that need to be preserved and the length of retention (the amount of time backup files are stored before being purged to make room for more data) designated for various kinds of files and data. In an effort to ensure that the tenant remains configurable, every device on this level shares the same backup policy.

Tailored Backup

Because different departments (and even individual users or machines) often have different needs, multi-tenancy also has built-in contingencies that allow for tailoring backup policies. High-ranking officials within an organization might be under a specific department’s policy, but it can be tailored to meet the unique needs of those individuals. The same holds true for different types of data and different security policies within an organization.

RingStor enterprise solution supports multi-tenancy and provides both department-based and tailored backup capabilities that are easily configurable at both tenant and data levels. Contact us today at (609) 955-3422 or visit us online at www.ringstor.com to learn more about how our safe, secure, and versatile cloud backup solutions can add to the efficiency and productivity of your organization.