Building Multi-Tenant SaaS Architectures

Chapter 3. Multi-Tenant Deployment Models

Selecting your multi-tenant deployment model is one of the first things you’ll do as a SaaS architect. It’s here that you step back from the details of the multi-tenant implementation and ask yourself broader questions about the fundamental footprint of your SaaS environment. The choices you make around the deployment model of your application will have a profound influence on the cost, operations, tiering, and a host of other attributes that will have a direct impact on the success of your SaaS business.

In this chapter, I’ll be walking through a range of different multi-tenant deployment models, exploring how each of these models can be used to address a variety of different technology and business requirements. Along the way, I’ll highlight the pros and cons of the various models and give you a good sense of how the model you select can shape the complexity, scalability, performance, and agility of your SaaS offering. Understanding these models and their core values and trade-offs is essential to arriving at an architecture strategy that balances the realities of your business, customers, time pressures, and long-term SaaS objectives. While there are themes in these models that are common to many SaaS teams, there is no one blueprint that everyone will follow. Instead, it will be your job to navigate these deployment models, weigh the options, and select a model or combination of models that address your current and emerging needs. ...