Summary

Application delivery is effectively the gauge of success or failure for the support organization. Monitoring and reporting this delivery becomes a necessity, and SLAs provide a mechanism to validate the performance.

SLAs require that you define specific performance characteristics expected from the network. In general, SLAs include provisions such as availability, predictability, MTTR, and reimbursement.

You should consider the SLA a living document. Build mechanisms for review and change. This will allow the SLA to work with the business objective and will assist in alleviating conflicts between delivery groups.

You should also consider the SLA a tool for monitoring application delivery; however, do not think of an SLA as a remedy for poorly performing applications or badly designed networks.