alfresco multi-tenancy: internals of the core repository & cloud

MT Internals … enabling multi-tenant SaaS “in the cloud”!

!Jan Vonka!

•  Jan Vonka - Senior Developer @ Alfresco!

•  Core Repository - Cloud / Hybrid Services!

•  At one time, lived & worked here in the Bay Area!

•  My passion:!

•  Flying hot-air balloons!

•  … once indoors @ Hangar 1, Moffett Field, CA!!

Quick intro!

Agenda!

•  Multi-Tenant (MT) Overview!

•  MT Core!

•  MT 4.x and “in the cloud”!•  What’s new in Alfresco 4.x ?!•  How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ?!

•  Summary and Feedback (Q & A)!

MT Overview!

MT Overview!4.x instance – example 1!

DB Content (Shared F/S)

Search (Solr)

Share

Repository (including Transforms)

APIs / Protocols (CMIS, REST, WebDAV, …)

MT Overview!4.x instance – example 2!

DB DB2 DB1

Content (Shared F/S)

Search nodes Solr2 Solr1 Solr3

Share nodes Sh2 Sh1 Sh3

Repository Cluster R2 R1 R3

Transformer nodes T2 T1 T3

APIs / Protocols (CMIS, REST, WebDAV, …)

MT Overview!4.x instance – example 3!

MT Overview !

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco “vanilla” – single-tenant (single instance) !

Alfresco Cluster

Alfresco – single-tenant (multi-instance)!

MT Overview !

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco Cluster

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco Cluster

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco Cluster

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco Cluster

T1 T2

T3 T4

Alfresco MT – multi-tenant (single instance)!

MT Overview !

Content DB Search Index

Alfresco Cluster

T1

T2

T3

T4

MT Overview!

Why use MT ?!!•  Economies of scale!

•  Lower licensing / TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)!

•  Easier to manage!•  Less administrative overhead, easier upgrades!

•  Scale!•  Cloud – multi-tenant SaaS (Software as a Service)!

•  New use-cases!•  Cloud – eg. B2B collaboration (Business-to-Business)!

MT Overview!

Alfresco has provided multi-tenant option since v3!!•  Single instance / multiple tenants!

•  Each tenant can access logical repo!

•  Full partitioning (isolated tenants)!

•  UIs + APIs / Protocols!

•  Dynamic Models!

MT Core!

MT Core !Repository structure – stores, nodes, associations!!

•  Store -> node hierarchy •  (primary) parent / child assocs •  also

•  secondary child assocs •  peer assocs (source / target)!

!•  Example: workspace://SpaceStore

•  Company Home •  Sites

•  Site1, Site2, … •  User Homes

•  fsmith, jdoe, … •  …

MT Core !Repository structure!!

•  By default, five uniquely named stores •  Live store (workspace://SpacesStore) •  Version2 store (workspace://version2Store) •  Archive store (archive://SpacesStore) •  User store (user://alfrescoUserStore) •  System store (system://system)

!•  See Admin Node Browser (Explorer or Share)

MT Core !MT implementation – tenant context!!

•  Auth (Security) ctx => fully qualified userid •  minimise impact on APIs + support standard protocols

•  myuser@mytenant

•  Internally partitioned by Alfresco “store” •  workspace://SpacesStore

•  workspace://@@mytenant@@SpacesStore

MT Core !MT implementation – tenant context (cont’)!!

•  workspace://SpaceStore (workspace://@@acme.com@@SpacesStore)

•  Company Home •  Sites

•  Site1, Site2, … •  User Homes

•  fsmith@acme.com, jdoe@acme.com, …

•  workspace://SpaceStore (workspace://@@ano.co.uk@@SpacesStore)

•  Company Home •  Sites

•  Site1, Site2, … •  User Homes

•  fsmith@ano.co.uk, jdoe@ano.co.uk

MT Core !MT implementation – create tenant!

•  On 1st startup, we “bootstrap” the schema objects •  When creating a tenant, we “import” default data …

•  create tenant-specific stores (x5) •  Live store •  Version2 store •  Archive store •  User store •  System store

•  add to “alf_tenant” table •  Tenant Domain, Enabled/Disabled, Content Root (if not co-mingled)

MT Core !MT implementation – Services vs DAOs!

•  Services / APIs

•  “always” accessed in tenant ctx •  notable exception is QuickShare service

•  public/shared links => no login required

•  Persistence DAOs •  direct use •  in some cases, apply to multiple / all (?) tenants

•  eg. system-wide patches / jobs etc

MT Core !Quick reference … something to review later!!

•  MultiTServiceImpl ß TenantService •  Provides name mangling – injected in various services

•  MultiTAdminServiceImpl ß TenantAdminService •  Manage tenants – create, disable / enable, delete

•  MultiTNodeServiceInterceptor •  example that wraps (intercepts) generic NodeService •  instead of injecting TenantService (or extending)

MT Core!See: node-services-context.xml!!

<bean id="multiTNodeServiceInterceptor" class="org.alfresco.repo.tenant.MultiTNodeServiceInterceptor">! <property name="tenantService">! <ref bean="tenantService" />! </property>!</bean>!!<bean id="mtAwareNodeService" class="org.springframework.aop.framework.ProxyFactoryBean" >! <property name="targetName">! <value>dbNodeService</value>! </property>! <property name="proxyInterfaces">! <list>! <value>org.alfresco.service.cmr.repository.NodeService</value>! </list>! </property>! <property name="interceptorNames">! <list>! <value>multiTNodeServiceInterceptor</value>! </list>! </property>!</bean>!!<bean id="dbNodeService" class="org.alfresco.repo.node.db.DbNodeServiceImpl" init-method="init" >! <!-- … more here … ->!</bean>!

MT Core !

Other examples …!!

•  Core Services, eg.!•  NodeService -> FileFolderService!•  ContentService!•  SearchService (Lucene + Solr since v4)!•  WorkflowService (JBPM + Activiti since v4)!•  … etc!

•  APIs & Protocols, eg.!•  WebScripts!•  CMIS!•  WebDAV!

What’s new in Alfresco v4.x ?!

What’s new in Alfresco v4 !Changes include:

•  Activiti support for MT!•  in addition to JBPM!

•  Solr support for MT!•  “core” tracking, tenant ctx filter, …!

!•  MT pre-configured (enable w/ 1st tenant) !!

•  note: since Enterprise 4.0.2 / Community 4.2.a!

What’s new in Alfresco v4 !Changes include:

•  Alf_Tenant table!•  replaces attribute list!

•  Common implementation!•  eg. for (tenant-based) caches!

•  Various bug fixes & other related improvements!•  from Cloud release + customer feedback!

How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ?!

How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ? !MT Core 4.x except hosted on AWS and …!!

Search Index (Solr) DB (RDS) Content (S3)

Alfresco Cluster

How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ? !Architecture!

How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ?!

… with Tenant (aka. Network switching)

•  Unlike MT core, cloud allows Tenant switching!•  User has primary tenant!•  Can be invited to secondary tenants!

•  We split Tenant ctx from Auth ctx (see TenantUtil)!•  Share + APIs support tenant switching!

•  via cloud extensions for:!•  Share / Surf!•  WebDAV protocol!•  SharePoint protocol!•  Core Repo APIs – including the new “public API”!

How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ? !Scaling – networks, users, sites, documents, …

•  Hosted Core MT might be “100s” of tenants!•  Cloud supports “100s of thousands” of tenants!

•  over 30000 companies signed up (DG)!

•  Generic improvements get pushed back to core code!

Futures!

Futures!Health warning – this slide is speculative J!

•  Driven by both Enterprise and Cloud use-cases!

•  Scaling – scale & partition tiers, as needed!•  SharePoint Protocol!•  Refactor of MT dynamic models (+ CMIS 1.1)!•  More dynamic Share / platform (per-tenant overrides)!•  Public / Private / Hybrid – MT vs ST!•  …!

•  What would you like to see on the list ?!

Summary!

Summary!•  MT Core!•  Fully partitioned by tenant context!

•  What’s new in Alfresco 4.x ?!•  Activiti, Solr, … + improvements & bug fixes!

•  How does Alfresco “in the cloud” differ ?!•  Network switching!

•  Please try it out!•  Download latest Community 4.2 …!•  http://wiki.alfresco.com/wiki/Multi-Tenancy!

Thank you J

… Questions & Feedback ?

! !! ! !!

Photo credits: http://www.stonebalancing.com/ !