What is the Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA) and how does it impact application design?
PemulaThe Azure Service Level Agreement (SLA) serves to ensure customer satisfaction by guaranteeing uptime for different Azure services. For your application to comply with these standards, it's crucial to understand what the agreement entails and how it influences your app's architecture.
Key Azure SLA Components
Types of SLAs
- Monthly Uptime Percentage: Each service has an associated monthly uptime percentage, indicating the guaranteed uptime for that given month. It's calculated by dividing the total minutes in a month by the minutes of downtime. The result is represented as a percentage.
- Service Credits: Azure offers service credits for underperformance, ensuring financial compensation if uptime isn't met.
Service Types
- Single SLA: All the services within a category have the same level of uptime guarantee. For instance, the "Core" category has a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
- Multiple SLA Tiers: Some services within a category offer different uptime guarantees. For example, within the "App Service" category, the services are divided into two tiers with different guarantee levels: Free and Shared has a 99.95% uptime guarantee, while Basic, Standard, and Premium have a 99.9% guarantee.
- No SLA: Some services don't have a defined SLA.
Application Design Considerations
Your application's design should align with the SLA guarantees to ensure high availability and performance.