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Dedicated Databases in Leon: What Is Changing and Why

Leon is gradually moving each operator, or each group of related operators, from one large shared database into a dedicated database of its own. Your Leon address, your logins and your data stay exactly as they are, and your integrations keep working without changes. The only thing you will notice is a short maintenance window, which we will agree with you before your migration.

What is changing

Today, most Leon operators keep their data in one large shared database. You only ever see your own data because Leon tags every record (a flight, a crew member, an invoice) with the operator it belongs to, and filters on that tag in every request.

After the change, each operator, or each group of operators that work together, gets a dedicated database. Your flights, crew, aircraft, documents and settings live there, physically separate from other operators' data. Several dedicated databases can sit on one database server, and we can spread them across servers as the platform grows.

Some information is the same for everyone: the airport directory, time zones, currency exchange rates and similar reference data. This stays in common databases that every operator uses, so nothing you rely on today disappears.

Why we are doing this

The shared database served Leon well for many years, but it grows with every new operator, and the number of operators keeps rising. Three reasons drive the change.

  • Scale. One ever-growing database becomes harder to keep fast and to maintain. Splitting it into smaller, independent databases keeps each one a manageable size.

  • Separation by design. In a shared database, keeping operators apart depends entirely on application logic. With dedicated databases, the separation is built into the structure of the platform itself.

  • Independence. When operators share one database, maintenance, recovery or an unusually heavy workload affects everyone at once. Dedicated databases let us handle each operator on its own.

This is not an experiment. We have prepared the platform for it over several years, and some operators already run on dedicated database infrastructure. The experience from those migrations shaped the process described below.

What it means for you

For your day-to-day work, nothing changes. After the migration, the following stay exactly as they were:

  • your Leon address (your subdomain),

  • user accounts, passwords, single sign-on and permissions,

  • all your data and its full history,

  • your modules, settings, templates and checklists,

  • the mobile apps, which connect to the same address as before.

If your operator belongs to a group (for example with sub-operators or shared resources), the whole group moves together. Everything that links you to the other operators in your group keeps working.

The one thing to plan for is the maintenance window. While your data is being moved, Leon is unavailable for your operator. We recommend preparing for it as for any planned downtime: download or print the documents your crews need for flights during that period, and avoid scheduling large imports or bulk changes around it.

Your integrations will keep working

Integrations reach Leon through your operator's address, and that address does not change. Leon uses it to find your database, so the move is invisible from the outside. In practice:

  • API endpoints stay the same, and so do API keys, OAuth clients and access tokens.

  • Webhooks keep being delivered to the same targets.

  • Older web services and file-based exchanges continue as before.

  • Connections to third-party systems configured inside Leon need no reconfiguration.

No code changes are needed on your side or on your integration partners' side. Before any production migration, we test integration paths on our staging environment.

Two practical points. During the maintenance window, API calls will fail, as with any planned downtime, so make sure your systems retry or queue requests, or pause scheduled synchronisations for that time. And if your company allows traffic only from specific IP addresses, note that in rare cases a migration can change the IP addresses Leon uses. This does not affect most operators, and if it affects you, we will tell you in advance so you can update your allowlists.

What you gain

  • Stronger isolation of your data. Your operational data sits in its own database rather than in shared tables, which adds a structural layer of protection on top of Leon's access controls.

  • More predictable performance. A smaller database is faster to search, and heavy activity at another operator, such as a large import or a big report, has much less effect on you.

  • Targeted maintenance and recovery. We can maintain, back up or, if ever needed, restore your database without touching anyone else's, and plan work around your operation rather than around the whole platform.

  • Room to grow. As your operation grows, we can move your database to a server with more capacity, or to dedicated infrastructure where there is a good reason for it, using the same process.

How the migration will be organised

Operators are migrated one at a time, or one group at a time, never all at once. Nobody is moved without notice.

  1. Advance notice. Before your migration, we contact your operator or group directly to explain what will happen and when, including any change to IP addresses that affects you.

  2. An agreed maintenance window. We set the time together, so it falls in a quiet period for your operation and in your time zone, not at a time that suits the platform.

  3. Migration. During the window, we move your data to its dedicated database. Leon is unavailable only for your operator or group; other operators are not affected.

  4. Back to work. Once the migration is complete, we confirm it with you and Leon is available again at the same address. Our Support team stays on hand in case you notice anything unusual.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to do anything now? No. We will contact you before your migration. Until then, Leon works exactly as it does today.

Will my data change in any way? No. Your data is moved as it is, with its full history. Nothing is converted, archived or removed.

Can we choose when it happens? Yes. The maintenance window is agreed with each operator or group individually.

Will my data be hosted somewhere else? If a migration involves any change to where your data is hosted, we will tell you explicitly beforehand.

Who can I ask? Contact Leon Support with any question about the change or your migration.

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