Multi tenancy

Foodsoft has a multicoops feature, which allows different foodcoops to run on a single Foodsoft installation. This is generally called multi-tenancy. In the foodcoop configuration config/app_config.yml the multicoops feature can be enabled with the multi_coop_install parameter, giving each foodcoop its own configuration key.

This is called schema-based multi-tenancy, where each tenant (foodcoop) has its own database. There are pros and cons for both the schema- and role-based approach.

The multishared plugin brings role-based multi-tenancy to foodsoft, adding a scope column to several models. This is far from polished, though.

Role-based multi-tenancy prepares the way to

• allow different foodcoops to work together, e.g. sharing orders;
• move users between foodcoops;
• extract statistics over multiple foodcoops (e.g. popular articles, turnover).

Links

• there are multiple gems providing multitenancy, e.g. milia, acts_as_tentant
• Multi-tenanting Ruby on Rails Applications on Heroku
• Railscast on multi-tenancy with scopes (paid)