SLA (Service Level Agreement)

Definition

An SLA (service level agreement) is a contract or policy that defines expected service levels—often availability %, support response times, and sometimes latency or error budgets—and the consequences when targets are missed.

In monitoring

Operational teams map probes and incident timelines to SLA windows to report compliance and drive improvement. Internal SLOs often inform external SLAs with safety margins.

Practical tip

Write SLAs with clear measurement methodology (what is checked, from where, how incidents start/end). Ambiguity creates disputes.

Related terms

See uptime monitoring and downtime for the underlying measurements.