What is a tenant in cloud computing?
A tenant in cloud computing is a single customer, team, or organization that shares a cloud system with other customers while keeping its own data, users, and settings walled off from everyone else. The word comes from renting: many tenants, one building.
A customer, team, or organization with its own data, users, and settings walled off from everyone else.
The word comes from renting.
To the user it feels like a private application.
The tenant boundary is how cloud SaaS keeps everyone’s data apart.
Each tenant sees only its own slice of the system. To the user it feels like a private application, even though the same software is quietly serving other tenants in the background.
- Its own data
- Its own users
- Its own settings
This is the basic unit of any multi tenant system. Understanding the tenant boundary is the first step to understanding how cloud SaaS keeps everyone’s data apart.
Figure 1. Many tenants, one building
Drawn from this article’s definition: each tenant keeps its own data, users, and settings walled off while one system serves them all. Three tenants are drawn to illustrate; the article gives no count.
Can one company be multiple tenants?
Yes. Large organizations often run separate tenants for different departments or regions.
Related reading
Related terms:
Services: SaaS Development Services, Cloud Consulting
