A single-tenant on-premises deployment dedicates one Business Central Server to each customer and stores the application and business data in the same database

MB-820 By islever Editorial Last updated

Describe the Business Central architecture

Short answer

AB A single-tenant on-premises deployment gives each customer a dedicated Business Central Server and stores the application and business data in one database.

Question

A company is deploying Business Central on-premises. The company plans to use a single-tenant deployment architecture. You need to describe how the data is stored and how the Business Central Server is configured. In which two ways should you describe the single-tenant architecture? Each correct answer presents a complete solution. NOTE: Each correct selection is worth one point.
  1. Each customer has their own Business Central Server. Correct Answer
  2. The application and the business data are stored in the same database. Correct Answer
  3. Multiple customers share a single Business Central Server.
  4. The application and business data are stored in separate databases.
  5. Multiple customers share multiple Business Central Server instances.

Key Takeaways

The word 'single' in single-tenant means one tenant per server instance. The application and the business data still share one database in that single tenant. Do not assume 'single' implies splitting the application from the data.

In a single-tenant on-premises deployment of Business Central, each customer, or tenant, runs on its own dedicated Business Central Server instance. The application code and the business data are stored together in one database. This is the opposite of a multitenant deployment, where several customers share a single server and the application and business data are kept in separate databases.

Common mistake: Do not select the options that describe multitenant deployments. Options that say multiple customers share a server, or that the application and business data are stored in separate databases, belong to multitenant architecture and are wrong here.

Expert Analysis

Why the Answer Is Correct

Option A is correct because a single-tenant deployment dedicates one Business Central Server to each customer, so every tenant has its own isolated server instance. Option B is correct because in single-tenant on-premises deployments the application database and the business data reside in the same database, which is the defining storage model for this architecture. Together A and B fully describe how the data is stored and how the server is configured for a single-tenant setup.

Why the Other Options Are Wrong

Option C is wrong because it describes a multitenant model where multiple customers share one Business Central Server, which contradicts the single-tenant requirement. Option D is wrong because keeping the application and business data in separate databases is the multitenant storage model, not the single-tenant one. Option E is also wrong because sharing server instances across customers is multitenant behavior and does not apply to a single-tenant architecture.

Community Comment Notes

The community vote is overwhelmingly AB (90 votes). Commenter Rahul2002 states plainly 'AB both are,' and Kt09 agrees with 'AB definitely,' confirming the two-part single-tenant description.

Official Reference

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/deployment/plan-for-deployment

This link opens the official vendor documentation in a new tab.

Community Votes

AB
100%

100% of anonymous learners picked answer AB. Votes are pick records left by other test-takers — they are not the verified answer.

Discussion 11 contributions

Compiled from public community threads and reader submissions, lightly edited for clarity. Handles and vote tallies are shown as recorded, and comments reflect the views of individual contributors.

From public community threads 11

  1. intentando 👍 2
    AB https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/deployment/plan-for-deployment Single-tenant architecture Business Central is installed as a single-tenant deployment by default. In a single-tenant deployment, the application and the business data are stored in the same database. Each customer solution has its own Business Central Server and database.
  2. Jerryboi10 👍 1
    The data in a single-tenant deployment architecture is stored in the same database where the application and business data are combined [2]. Each customer solution has its own Business Central Server in a single-tenant deployment, meaning each customer has their own dedicated server instance [2]. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/deployment/plan-for-deployment?wt.mc_id=DX-MVP-5003099
  3. Nityaanantha_Raman 👍 1
    A single-tenant deployment architecture refers to a system where each customer (tenant) has their own dedicated instance of the software and its supporting infrastructure. This means that the resources, such as databases and servers, are not shared with other customers https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oNH9i2ssNi9gISG3JGuxUoUhmAA4xCaGahEKv2dRN6Y/edit?usp=sharing
  4. 75ed3a2 👍 1
    B & D. - "A" statement might be misleading. In a single-tenant deployment, while each customer has their own database, they do not necessarily have their own Business Central Server instance. Multiple databases (tenants) can be hosted on a single server instance, although they are not shared across customers.
  5. Bravo_Dravel 👍 1
    A single-tenant deployment architecture refers to a system where each customer (tenant) has their own dedicated instance of the software and its supporting infrastructure. This means that the resources, such as databases and servers, are not shared with other customers
Show 6 more comments
  1. 08d9d8c 👍 1
    A: Business Central Server is a windows service, not a machine and it's impossible for different customers to share the same windows service because they all would work in the same database then. B: Was explained enough times already
  2. intentando 👍 1
    https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/deployment/plan-for-deployment
  3. Kt09 👍 1
    AB definitely
  4. 70e8a4b 👍 1
    Answer is B&C
  5. Rahul2002 👍 1
    AB both are
  6. examenesArb 👍 1
    B and C

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