Tenant Management

Complete guide to managing multi-tenant environments in Authonomy Nexus including creating, viewing, and deleting tenants

Tenant Management

Overview

Authonomy Nexus supports multi-tenancy, allowing you to isolate data and configurations across different environments, departments, or customer-specific deployments. This guide covers how to manage tenants through the administrative interface.

What is a Tenant?

A tenant in Authonomy represents an isolated environment within your Authonomy instance. Each tenant maintains:

  • Separate user directories and authentication flows
  • Independent SAML/OIDC configurations
  • Isolated application registrations
  • Distinct audit logs and analytics

Use Cases for Multi-Tenancy

  • Environment Isolation: Separate development, staging, and production environments
  • Department Isolation: Keep different business units’ configurations separate
  • Customer-Specific Configurations: Provide dedicated environments for different clients
  • Testing and Development: Create isolated spaces for experimenting with new configurations

Prerequisites

Before managing tenants, ensure you have:

  • Administrative access to Authonomy Nexus
  • Appropriate tenant management permissions
  • Access to the Authonomy admin interface at https://authonomy.local/authonomy-admin

Accessing Tenant Management

To access tenant management in Authonomy:

  1. Navigate to Settings - From the main dashboard, go to the Settings page
  2. Select Tenants Tab - Click on the “Tenants” tab within the Settings interface

Managing Tenants

Viewing Tenants

The tenant list displays:

  • Tenant Name: Human-readable name for the tenant
  • Tenant ID: Unique UUID identifier
  • Created: Timestamp when the tenant was created
  • Current Tenant Indicator: Shows which tenant you’re currently operating in
  • Actions: Available operations (delete, etc.)

Tenant List Complete tenant list showing multiple tenants with their details

Tenant Operations

The tenant management interface provides several key operations:

Creating a New Tenant

Add new isolated environments for different purposes such as development, staging, production, or customer-specific configurations. Learn about naming conventions, validation rules, and post-creation setup.

Changing Tenants

Switch between different tenant contexts to manage multiple environments from a single session. Learn how to use the tenant selector, understand the switching process, and handle multi-tenant workflows effectively.

Deleting Tenants

Permanently remove tenants from your system with proper safety measures and confirmation processes. Understand restrictions, backup procedures, and troubleshooting common deletion issues.

Quick Actions:

  • Create: Click “Add Tenant” in the interface to start the creation process
  • Switch: Click your user menu (top-right) and select a different tenant from the dropdown
  • Delete: Click “Delete” next to any tenant (except the current one) to remove it

For detailed step-by-step instructions, click the links above or use the sidebar navigation.

Current Tenant Context

Authonomy operates within the context of a “current tenant.” This affects:

  • Which configurations are displayed and editable
  • Which users and applications are visible
  • Which audit logs and analytics are shown
  • API operations and data access

The current tenant is indicated in the tenant list interface and shown in your user menu (top-right corner). To work with a different tenant’s data, use the tenant switching feature available through the user menu dropdown.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Permission Errors

  • Ensure you have administrative privileges
  • Verify your user account has tenant management permissions
  • Check that you’re logged in with the correct account

Cannot Delete Tenant

  • Verify you’re not trying to delete the current/active tenant
  • Ensure the tenant isn’t protected by system policies
  • Check for any dependent configurations that need to be removed first

Tenant Creation Fails

  • Verify the tenant name doesn’t conflict with existing tenants
  • Check for proper network connectivity
  • Ensure the database has sufficient permissions and space

Navigation Issues

  • Clear browser cache and cookies
  • Try accessing the settings page directly via URL
  • Verify your session hasn’t expired

Error Messages

If you encounter errors during tenant management:

  1. Note the exact error message for troubleshooting
  2. Check browser console for additional technical details
  3. Verify network connectivity to the Authonomy server
  4. Contact your system administrator if problems persist

Security Considerations

Data Isolation

  • Each tenant’s data is completely isolated from others
  • User accounts are scoped to individual tenants
  • Configurations do not cross tenant boundaries
  • Audit logs are maintained separately per tenant

Access Control

  • Tenant management requires elevated administrative privileges
  • Regular users cannot view or modify tenant settings
  • Tenant deletion is a destructive operation requiring confirmation
  • Consider implementing additional approval workflows for production environments

Best Practices

  • Limit tenant management access to trusted administrators only
  • Use descriptive naming to avoid confusion between tenants
  • Document tenant purposes and ownership for future reference
  • Regularly audit tenant usage to identify unused or obsolete tenants
  • Implement backup procedures before making tenant changes in production

Advanced Operations

Tenant Organization Strategies

Different organizations use various approaches to organize their tenants:

  • Environment-Based: Separate production, staging, development, and testing environments
  • Department-Based: Isolated environments for HR, Finance, Engineering, and Sales teams
  • Customer-Based: Dedicated tenants for different clients or partners
  • Project-Based: Temporary tenants for specific projects or initiatives

For detailed naming conventions and examples, see the Create New Tenant guide.

Integration Considerations

When working with multiple tenants:

  • API calls are scoped to the current tenant context
  • SAML/OIDC configurations are tenant-specific
  • User synchronization operates within tenant boundaries
  • Monitoring and alerting should account for multi-tenant architecture

Future Enhancements

Planned features for future versions may include:

  • Bulk Operations: Create, modify, or delete multiple tenants at once
  • Tenant Templates: Pre-configured tenant settings for common use cases
  • Advanced Analytics: Cross-tenant reporting and usage analytics
  • Backup/Restore: Tenant-specific backup and restoration capabilities
  • API Management: Enhanced API access controls per tenant

For additional assistance with tenant management, consult your system administrator or refer to the Authonomy support documentation.