EC-Council Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH) v12Cloud ComputingMedium
A cloud security engineer needs to implement a solution that allows multiple tenants (different organizations) to share the same underlying cloud infrastructure while ensuring strict logical isolation and data segregation between them. Each tenant must perceive they have their own dedicated resources, even though they are running on shared hardware. Which architectural concept is being described?
- ASingle-tenant architecture
- BMulti-tenant architecture
- CFederated architecture
- DHybrid architecture
Show answer & explanationAnswer & explanation
Correct answer: B. Multi-tenant architecture
Multi-tenant architecture is a software architecture where a single instance of a software application serves multiple customers (tenants). While sharing infrastructure, it uses logical isolation mechanisms to ensure data segregation and resource separation, making it appear to each tenant as if they have dedicated resources.
Why the other options are wrong
- A. Single-tenant architecture dedicates an entire infrastructure instance to a single customer, which is contrary to the shared infrastructure requirement.
- C. Federated architecture involves multiple independent systems working together, often for identity management, not the core concept of shared infrastructure with isolation.
- D. Hybrid architecture combines different cloud deployment models, not specifically about tenant isolation on shared infrastructure.
Multi-tenant Architecture
A software architecture where a single instance of a software application or infrastructure serves multiple distinct organizations (tenants).
- Tenants share compute, storage, and networking resources.
- Logical isolation mechanisms ensure data segregation and security.
- Common in SaaS and PaaS offerings for cost efficiency and scalability.
Memory trick: Multi-tenant: Many tenants, one building, separate apartments.