SUPPORTING DATABASE APPLICATIONS AS A SERVICE

Abstract

WITH THE SHIFT IN OUTSOURCING THE MANAGEMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF DATABASE APPLICATIONS, MULTI-TENANCY HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MOST ACTIVE AND EXCITING RESEARCH AREAS. MULTI-TENANT DATA MANAGEMENT IS A FORM OF SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE (SAAS), WHEREBY A THIRD PARTY SERVICE PROVIDER HOSTS DATABASES AS A SERVICE AND PROVIDES ITS CUSTOMERS WITH SEAMLESS MECHANISMS TO CREATE, STORE AND ACCESS THEIR DATABASES AT THE HOST SITE. ONE OF THE MAIN PROBLEMS IN SUCH A SYSTEM IS THE SCALABILITY ISSUE, NAMELY THE ABILITY TO SERVE AN INCREASING NUMBER OF TENANTS WITHOUT SIGNIFICANT QUERY PERFORMANCE DEGRADATION. IN THIS THESIS, VARIOUS SOLUTIONS WILL BE INVESTIGATED TO ADDRESS THIS PROBLEM. FIRST, THREE POTENTIAL ARCHITECTURES ARE EXAMINED TO GIVE A GOOD INSIGHT INTO THE DESIGN OF MULTI-TENANT DATABASE SYSTEM. THEY ARE INDEPENDENT DATABASE AND INDEPENDENT DATABASE INSTANCES (IDII), INDEPENDENT TABLES AND SHARED DATABASE INSTANCES (ITSI), AND SHARED TABLE AND SHARED DATABASE INSTANCES (STSI). ALL THESE APPROA