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How to achieve multi-tenant isolation of cloud-native applications?

Created on 2025-07-25 18:16:43
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To achieve multi-tenant isolation of cloud-native applications, you need to ensure that data, resources, and workloads of different tenants are logically or physically separated to prevent unauthorized access or interference. This can be implemented at multiple layers:

  1. Application Layer Isolation

    • Use tenant-specific identifiers (e.g., tenant ID) in the application logic to separate data and configurations.
    • Implement role-based access control (RBAC) to restrict tenant access.
    • Example: A SaaS application stores each tenant’s data in separate database schemas or tables, identified by a tenant_id field.

  2. Data Layer Isolation

    • Database Isolation: Use separate databases, schemas, or tables per tenant. Alternatively, use a shared database with strict row-level security (RLS) or column-level encryption.
    • Example: PostgreSQL with RLS ensures tenants can only access their own rows.

  3. Kubernetes & Container Orchestration Isolation

    • Namespaces: Use Kubernetes namespaces to logically separate tenant workloads.
    • Network Policies: Restrict pod-to-pod communication between tenants.
    • Resource Quotas: Limit CPU, memory, and storage per tenant.
    • Example: Deploy each tenant’s microservices in a dedicated Kubernetes namespace with network policies blocking cross-tenant traffic.

  4. Serverless & Function Isolation

    • In serverless architectures (e.g., cloud functions), each tenant’s functions can run in isolated execution environments.
    • Example: Tencent Cloud SCF (Serverless Cloud Function) allows per-function resource limits and VPC isolation.

  5. Networking & Security Isolation

    • VPC Peering/Subnets: Place tenant workloads in separate virtual private clouds (VPCs) or subnets.
    • Service Mesh: Use Istio or Tencent Cloud TSE (Tencent Service Engine) to enforce mTLS and traffic policies.
    • Example: Tencent Cloud VPC enables network segmentation for multi-tenant workloads.

  6. Storage Isolation

    • Use separate object storage buckets or block storage volumes per tenant.
    • Example: Tencent Cloud COS (Cloud Object Storage) allows bucket-level access control.

  7. Monitoring & Auditing

    • Log tenant activities separately and enforce audit trails.
    • Example: Tencent Cloud CLS (Cloud Log Service) helps track tenant-specific logs.

Recommended Tencent Cloud Services for Multi-Tenancy:

  • TKE (Tencent Kubernetes Engine) – For namespace & network policy isolation.
  • SCF (Serverless Cloud Function) – For isolated function execution.
  • TDSQL (Tencent Distributed SQL) – For database multi-tenancy (per-tenant schemas).
  • VPC & CLB (Cloud Load Balancer) – For network segmentation.
  • COS & CFS (Cloud File Storage) – For tenant-specific storage.

By combining these techniques, you can ensure secure and efficient multi-tenant isolation in cloud-native applications.