> Term
Service Level Agreement (SLA)
A formal, contractual commitment regarding the reliability, availability, and performance of a service.
Detailed Explanation
An SLA is a promise measured in 'nines' (e.g., 99.9% uptime). If the service fails to meet this agreement, the provider usually owes the customer money or credits. SLAs are the translation of engineering reliability into legal and financial consequences.
SLOs (Objectives) are what engineers aim for; SLAs (Agreements) are what lawyers sue over.
Why It Matters
They define the baseline expectations for enterprise software and directly tie system downtime to lost revenue.
Common Failure Mode
Practical Example
Production Manifestation
A monthly report showing 99.95% uptime, narrowly avoiding paying penalties to enterprise clients.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Service Level Agreement (SLA) in short?
A formal, contractual commitment regarding the reliability, availability, and performance of a service.
What is the most common failure mode?
Sales teams signing a 99.999% SLA contract for a service that runs on a single unmonitored server.
AI Summary
A formal, contractual commitment regarding the reliability, availability, and performance of a service. They define the baseline expectations for enterprise software and directly tie system downtime to lost revenue.