Question about Multi-Tenancy

toLLto

Please consider such scenario: we're hosting about 150 Customer NAV 2009 Databases. We keep all Databases with same object versions (we have a tool to import fob's to all DB's). We prepare us for the NAV 2013 R2 upgrade. I read a lot about Multi-Tenancy, it looks like a good solution for us. However after first tests I see some cons and pros.

pros:
- easy object management, there is only one database with Application Objects so we don't need to import fob's
- only one NST Service, no need to create separate services for each database
- only one url (with tenantid)
- it's the newest technology

cons:
- only one service (!). If there is a problem with one database and the service needs to be restarted all databases (customers) will be affected
- more difficult to work with development environment. If you want to preview the table data you need everytime to set the tenantid and company in Tools -> Options (names are typed manually, no dropdown with existing tenants/companies). Very risky to run some processing reports or codeunits from dev.env. - if you forget to change the tenant id / company you could damage your data



Maybe somebody could share here some experience about working with Multi-Tenancy in real production life?

thegunzo

Hi

In NAV 2013 R2 and 2015 you will always need to specify a company name for a single database instead of a tenant id.
You can easilly run a table directly from the Windows Client, look here for example http://www.olofsimren.com/run-objects-in-nav-2013-using-geturl-and-hyperlink/

Regarding the service, you should always have at least two service machines. Each with a service tier and then you put a load balancer on top. This is very easy in Azure for example. You need to have redundancy.

Good luck.

bbrown

You would have 1 or more services tiers for each tenant database. As suggested above, at least 2 with load-balancing should be considered. Each tenant database can contain 1 or more companies.

In terms of development, why not develop in a standard single-tenant environment. Then move modified objects to a small multi-tenant environment for testing. Finally moving to the production environment?