1 AaS 7.1: Understanding SLAs, SLEs, and Provider Managed Metrics Matthew E. Porter Contegix

2 Data Center World – Certified Vendor Neutral Each presenter is required to certify that their presentation will be vendor-neutral. As an attendee you have a right to enforce this policy of having no sales pitch within a session by alerting the speaker if you feel the session is not being presented in a vendor neutral fashion. If the issue continues to be a problem, please alert Data Center World staff after the session is complete.

3 Understanding SLAs, SLEs, and Provider Management Metrics While critical to understand, SLAs are not the only metric to allow for effective tracking of performance. Service Level Expectations (SLEs) and numerous other KPIs are often more critical to governing the relationship, customer satisfaction, and how providers can and should operate. Topic will explore how both SLEs and KPIs are built upon and delivered in conjunction to SLAs.

4

5 REVISED: Understanding SLAs, SLEs, and Provider Management Metrics SLAs Suck. Customers Do Not Care. Their Legal Does, But Not The Business Contact. Providers Care Because It’s A Liability.

6 SLAs Are Contracts 1. Definition of the Service 2. Measurement of the Service 3. The Standard and The Period 4. The Penalty

7 Example – AWS SLA : Definition

8 Example – AWS SLA : Measurement

9 Example – AWS SLA : Standard & Period

10 Example – AWS SLA : Penalty

11

12 Expectation of SLA Violation 1.Issue occurs. 2.Service Provider reports issue to customer. 3.Issue resolved with communication of cause and resolution. 4.Penalty (usually credit). 5.Service Provider takes prevention steps.

13 (Too Often The) Reality of SLA Violation 1.Issue occurs. 2.Customer reports issue. 3.Service provider acknowledges issue. 4.Back and forth between customers and service provider to identify issue. 5.Issue resolved. Maybe with some communication of cause and resolution.

14

15

16 Example – AWS SLA reporting

17 Example – AWS SLA reporting

18 SLA : Penalties & Reporting Examples “All credits must be requested by the customer within 3 days of the reported downtime, and the downtime must be from a single occurrence.”

19 SLA : Penalties & Reporting Examples “To receive a credit, the customer must make a request by sending an message to [REDACTED]. The message MUST include the domain name of the customer’s account in the ‘Subject’ line.”

20 SLA : Penalties & Reporting Examples “To receive an SLA credit, [REDACTED] customers must contact their account manager.”

21 SLA : Penalties & Reporting Examples “[REDACTED] utilizes some third party services to provide responses to customers. These include, but are not limited to, our LiveChat system. If a third party system’s failure prevents [REDACTED] from honoring the Response Time SLA requirements the SLA event will be ineligible for compensation.”

22

23 (Too Often The) Reality of SLA Violation 6.Customer receives invoice. Penalty is non-existent. 7.Customer files billing inquiry. 8.Service provider informs customer of reporting deadline. No service credit. 9.Customer angers and begins imagining life without service provider.

24

25

26

27 Service Level Expectations

28 Service Level Expectations A Service Level Expectation (SLE) describes the service being delivered, documents service level targets which the IT Service Provider is committing to. Targets are based on business requirements, and are needed to ensure that IT is able to meet business objectives.

29 Service Level Expectations Service Level Expectations are not negotiated with customers or users. Rather, they represent the anticipated needs of users. The IT Service Provider should understand true user expectations. User expectations should be realistic.

30 Service Level Expectations 1.Scope 2.Description of the Service 3.Service Functionality and Response Time 4.Service Hours 5.Service Availability

31 Service Level Expectations 6.Incidents and Service Requests 7.Monitoring & Analysis 8.Security & Governance 9.User Feedback

32

33 Fun Statistics Per Data Center Stored & analyzed in 1 minute intervals >500 metrics per device ~1 billion metrics stored daily ~1 trillion metrics stored total

34

35 Experience Share - Background Data Center CRAC Performance 2x+2x Temperature Per Cabinet Power Utilization Per Cabinet Power Utilization Per Device (A&B)

36 Experience Share - Background Server CPU Performance CPU Temperature Fan Speed

37 Experience Share - Background Support (Per Customer): Ticket Status Usage Response Time Per Ticket Status Type Resolution Time Per Ticket Status Ratings Per Support Interaction

38 Experience Share - Background Customer Information: Batch processing starts 02:15 daily Runs equipment near threshold Has previously almost overloaded circuit

39 Experience Share - Background Customer Information: Nearly every ticket classified submitted as “emergency” (below “911” status) Usual response time of <8 minutes for support

40 Experience Share – Expected Timeline: 02:20 – Cabinet Temperature 02:21 – Power (A&B) Usage 02:21 – CPU Temperature 02:21 – Fan Speed

41 Experience Share Timeline: 02:17 – CRAC units 02:20 – Cabinet Temperature 02:21 – Power (A&B) Usage 02:21 – CPU Temperature 02:21 – Fan Speed

42 Experience Share Timeline: 02:25 – Engineers receive events out of spec (via comparison) 02:26 – Engineers open support incident w/customer 02:31 – Customer acknowledges & joint investigation begins.

43 Experience Share Timeline: 02:34 – Customer stops batch processing as measurements increase. 02:45 – Discovered batch processing was hung prior to stopping.

44 SLA vs. SLE SLA: Cabinet power outage was likely, if not, imminent Service credit request likely, if customer jumps over hurdles Neutral impact on loyalty & retention, at best

45 SLA vs. SLE SLE: Cabinet power outage avoided Service credit request replaced with collaboration & thanks Positive impact on loyalty & retention

46

47

48

49

50 3 Key Things You Have Learned During this Session 1.SLAs are contracts. 2.SLEs are for customer service, retention, and loyalty. 3.Metrics & User Feedback are critical for SLEs.

51 Thank you Matthew E. Porter