Title

AWS re:Invent 2023 - SaaS anywhere: Designing distributed multi-tenant architectures (SAS308)

Summary

Presenters: Peter and Damika, partner solution architects with AWS SaaS Factory.
SaaS Anywhere: A new deployment model where SaaS components are hosted in remote environments not under the SaaS provider's control.
Core Values of SaaS: Agility, economy of scale, operational efficiency, growth, and reduced cycle time.
Design Considerations: Availability and reliability, frictionless onboarding, remote management and updates, metrics and monitoring.
Trade-offs: Balancing traditional SaaS benefits with the complexities of SaaS Anywhere.
Flavors of Anywhere: AWS account, hybrid cloud, on-premises.
Deployment Models:
- Distributed Data Stores: Data resides in the tenant's environment.
- Distributed Application Plane: Business logic resides in the tenant's environment.
- Remote Application Plane: Entire application plane is deployed in the tenant's environment.
Operations Challenges: Remote deployments, cross-account observability.
Technologies and Tools: AWS services like DynamoDB, IAM, STS, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, and AWS PrivateLink.
SaaS Anywhere Benefits: Provides additional value while preserving core SaaS propositions.

SaaS Anywhere is emerging: The concept is gaining traction among AWS customers and partners.
Shared Responsibility Model: SaaS Anywhere introduces a shared responsibility between the SaaS provider and the tenant for different components.
Complexity and Instrumentation: SaaS Anywhere adds complexity to the architecture, requiring careful planning and additional instrumentation for deployment and management.
Preserving SaaS Values: Despite the additional complexity, it's crucial to ensure that SaaS Anywhere solutions still align with the core values of SaaS.
Selecting the Right Strategy: It's important to choose the appropriate deployment model based on specific use cases and requirements.
Leveraging AWS Services: AWS provides a range of services that can facilitate the implementation of SaaS Anywhere solutions, emphasizing the importance of selecting the right tools for the job.
Importance of Connectivity: Reliable connectivity between the tenant's environment and the SaaS provider is critical, especially for distributed application services and remote application planes.
Operational Efficiency: Maintaining operational efficiency is a challenge with SaaS Anywhere due to the need for synchronization and management across multiple tenant environments.
Future Development: As SaaS Anywhere continues to evolve, AWS is likely to offer more sessions, workshops, and resources to support the development of these architectures.