Laravel SaaS Multi-Tenancy

Multi-tenancy is the cornerstone of SaaS applications. Laravel 5's architecture makes implementing tenant isolation elegant and maintainable. At ZIRA Software, we've built numerous multi-tenant platforms using these patterns.

Multi-Tenancy Approaches

Multi-Tenancy Strategies
├── Database per Tenant
│   ├── Complete isolation
│   ├── Easy backup/restore
│   └── Higher infrastructure cost
├── Shared Database, Separate Schemas
│   ├── Good isolation
│   ├── PostgreSQL native support
│   └── Medium complexity
└── Shared Database, Shared Schema
    ├── Tenant ID column
    ├── Lowest cost
    └── Requires careful scoping

Shared Schema Implementation

// app/Models/Tenant.php
class Tenant extends Model
{
    protected $fillable = ['name', 'domain', 'database'];

    public function users()
    {
        return $this->hasMany(User::class);
    }
}

// app/Traits/BelongsToTenant.php
trait BelongsToTenant
{
    protected static function bootBelongsToTenant()
    {
        static::creating(function ($model) {
            if (session()->has('tenant_id')) {
                $model->tenant_id = session('tenant_id');
            }
        });

        static::addGlobalScope('tenant', function ($query) {
            if (session()->has('tenant_id')) {
                $query->where('tenant_id', session('tenant_id'));
            }
        });
    }
}

// Usage in models
class Project extends Model
{
    use BelongsToTenant;

    protected $fillable = ['name', 'description', 'tenant_id'];
}

Tenant Resolution Middleware

// app/Http/Middleware/ResolveTenant.php
class ResolveTenant
{
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        $host = $request->getHost();

        // Subdomain-based tenant resolution
        $subdomain = explode('.', $host)[0];

        $tenant = Tenant::where('subdomain', $subdomain)->first();

        if (!$tenant) {
            abort(404, 'Tenant not found');
        }

        session(['tenant_id' => $tenant->id]);
        config(['app.tenant' => $tenant]);

        return $next($request);
    }
}

// app/Http/Kernel.php
protected $middlewareGroups = [
    'web' => [
        // ... other middleware
        \App\Http\Middleware\ResolveTenant::class,
    ],
];

Database per Tenant

// config/database.php
'connections' => [
    'tenant' => [
        'driver' => 'mysql',
        'host' => env('DB_HOST'),
        'database' => '', // Set dynamically
        'username' => env('DB_USERNAME'),
        'password' => env('DB_PASSWORD'),
    ],
],

// app/Services/TenantManager.php
class TenantManager
{
    public function setConnection(Tenant $tenant)
    {
        config([
            'database.connections.tenant.database' => $tenant->database
        ]);

        DB::purge('tenant');
        DB::reconnect('tenant');
    }

    public function createTenantDatabase(Tenant $tenant)
    {
        $database = 'tenant_' . $tenant->id;

        DB::statement("CREATE DATABASE {$database}");

        // Run migrations
        Artisan::call('migrate', [
            '--database' => 'tenant',
            '--path' => 'database/migrations/tenant'
        ]);

        $tenant->update(['database' => $database]);
    }
}

Tenant-Aware Queues

// app/Jobs/TenantAwareJob.php
abstract class TenantAwareJob implements ShouldQueue
{
    protected $tenantId;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->tenantId = session('tenant_id');
    }

    public function handle()
    {
        session(['tenant_id' => $this->tenantId]);

        $this->process();
    }

    abstract protected function process();
}

// Usage
class ProcessTenantReport extends TenantAwareJob
{
    protected function process()
    {
        // Tenant scope automatically applied
        $projects = Project::all();
        // Generate report...
    }
}

Conclusion

Multi-tenancy in Laravel requires careful planning around data isolation, performance, and scalability. Choose the approach that matches your security requirements and budget constraints.

Building a SaaS platform? Contact ZIRA Software for multi-tenancy architecture consulting.