SLI / SLO / SLA
SLI — a measured metric (e.g. "response time p99"). SLO — a target for the SLI (e.g. "p99 < 200ms"). SLA — a contractual commitment to customers (e.g. "99.9% uptime, otherwise refund"). Google's SRE book popularized this hierarchy. Typical: SLO = 99.9% monthly → error budget = 43 min/month. When budget is spent — pause feature work and focus on reliability.
Below: details, example, related terms, FAQ.
Details
- SLI: quantitative metric (uptime %, p99 latency, error rate)
- SLO: target value for the SLI — internal goal
- SLA: customer-facing contract, usually with penalty on breach
- Error budget: 100% - SLO (e.g. 99.9% SLO = 0.1% budget = 43 min/month)
- Multi-dimensional: separate SLOs for availability, latency, error-rate
Example
SLI: % requests with status 2xx\/3xx
SLO: 99.9% of requests succeed (monthly)
SLA: refund 10% if <99.9% in a monthRelated Terms
Understanding SLI: Key Metrics for Performance Monitoring
Crafting Effective SLOs: Setting Targets for Service Performance
SLA: Legal Commitments to Customers and Service Expectations
Learn more
Frequently Asked Questions
How to measure uptime SLI?
Synthetic probes (Enterno monitors) every minute. 30-day window. Success = HTTP 2xx/3xx + response time < threshold.
Do I need an SLA for a small team?
Internal SLO — always. SLA — only if a customer requires it (enterprise, compliance).
What to do when error budget is exhausted?
Feature-freeze, postmortem, reliability work until budget recovers. This is the main value of the error-budget approach.
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