A multi-tenant PBX system goes beyond simply hosting multiple distinct PBX instances on the same physical hardware. It's an architecture where a single instance of the PBX software and its underlying infrastructure is shared by multiple independent tenants (organizations, businesses, or even departments within a large organization), while ensuring complete data isolation, security, and customization for each tenant.
Think of it like an apartment building (multi-tenant) versus multiple individual houses on the same street (multi-instance). In the apartment building, shared resources like the foundation, roof, and hallways are used by everyone, but each apartment is completely private and customisable.
Key characteristics of a truly multi-tenant PBX system:
Shared Infrastructure: A single application server, database, and other core components serve all tenants. This optimizes resource utilization and reduces operational overhead.
Complete Data Isolation: Each tenant's data (configurations, call records, voicemails, recordings, user accounts, etc.) is strictly segregated and inaccessible to other tenants. This is paramount for security and privacy.
Independent Configuration and Management: Each tenant has its own administrative interface or portal, allowing them to independently manage their users, extensions, call routing, features, and settings without affecting other tenants.
Customization: While sharing the core platform, each tenant can often customize aspects like branding (logos, greetings), feature sets (within the platform's capabilities), and integration with their own systems.
Scalability: The underlying architecture is designed to scale efficiently as the number of tenants and users grows.
Security: Robust security measures are in place to protect the shared infrastructure and ensure the isolation of each tenant's data.
Ringotel and Multi-Tenant PBX Systems
Ringotel operates as a multi-tenant system, allowing users to establish multiple distinct and independent organizations under a single account. While Ringotel itself is not a PBX system, it functions seamlessly over the standard Session Initiation Protocol (SIP/SIPS).
Ringotel's Multi-Tenant Mode
When you enable the Multi-tenant mode within Ringotel's connection settings, it enforces strict adherence to the SIP protocol to ensure proper communication within a multi-tenant environment. Specifically, with this option enabled, Ringotel includes organisation’s domain within the Contact header in each SIP REGISTER requests to a PBX system.
Then, Ringotel anticipates receiving SIP INVITE requests from your connected PBX where the Request-URI contains a domain that corresponds to the specific organization within Ringotel that the call is intended for. This domain name in the INVITE URI acts as the key identifier for Ringotel to correctly route the incoming call to the appropriate tenant and the designated user within that tenant.
Therefore, before enabling the Multi-tenant mode in Ringotel, it is necessary to verify that your SIP PBX system is configured and operates in full compliance with RFC 3261. Otherwise, it could lead to incoming calls being incorrectly routed or rejected.