From SaaS platforms to cloud services, multi-tenancy is the backbone of scalable applications. Instead of running separate instances for each customer, a well-designed multi-tenant system ensures efficiency, security, and maintainability—but it comes with its own challenges.
Here’s a real-world challenge to test your multi-tenancy skills.
🏢 Challenge: Design a Multi-Tenant Database for a SaaS Platform
The Problem
You’re building a SaaS application where multiple businesses (tenants) need their own user accounts and data, but they should never access each other’s information.
The Solution
Choose a multi-tenancy approach:
- Shared Database, Shared Schema (Single Table with a
tenant_idcolumn) - Shared Database, Isolated Schemas (One schema per tenant)
- Separate Databases per Tenant (Complete isolation but complex management)
Tasks:
- Design the user authentication model ensuring a user can only access their tenant's data.
- Implement role-based access control (RBAC) per tenant.
- Optimize query performance to ensure scalability as more tenants join.
💡 Bonus Challenge: Implement soft deletions instead of hard deletions to prevent accidental data loss.
Final Thoughts
Multi-tenancy isn’t just about storing data—it’s about designing a system that scales securely, efficiently, and cost-effectively.
- Scaling strategy matters: Choose the right database model.
- Security is key: Ensure tenants can’t access each other’s data.
- Performance counts: Indexing & partitioning can help with query speed.
🚀 Want more challenges like this along with detailed solutions? Start learning here 👉 Backend Challenges
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