For this blog entry, I have chosen to review a Service Level Agreement (SLA) provided by Aruba Cloud. This SLA defines the parameters of the Aruba Cloud Computing Service as well as monitoring its quality and performance. This SLA also explains the rules and regulations that are involved. This SLA is set to last for an indefinite amount of time for each customer after the contract ends. Aruba also has the right to change or replace this contract as they deem necessary. Aruba states that they will make every effort to ensure that the availability, functionality, and performance of their Cloud services are always at their maximum potential.
To further explain what this means, Aruba states in this SLA that, 100% annual uptime for air conditioning and electricity and 99.95% uptime for access to the Internet and Aruba’s virtual infrastructure will be met. If there are any circumstances such as a power failure or services are rendered disabled, due credit will be determined to be paid to the customer. Aruba also states that a 99.95% uptime on the availability of their servers will be met. An optional service, the “Cloud Server Smart” service, can be chosen to further make sure the maximum availability and allocations are met. For access to the resources of Aruba’s data center, this SLA ensures that a 100% annual uptime for power and air conditioning and 99.8% annual uptime for availability for physical nodes is met.
It is important to know that time for planned maintenance is not counted in the calculation for uptime. Although, before these maintenance operations are performed, the customer will be alerted at least 48 hours in advance. For detecting and reporting faults and failures, issues should be reported by the customer via ticket on Aruba’s Service page. Credits will be awarded based on the nature of the problem and any downtime it causes. These reports can be made 24 hours a day/365 days a year. Credits awarded to the customer from Aruba, equal to 5% of the total expenditure generated. This is for 30 days before the malfunction or rather in the month previous to the month the issue occurred. Credits will only be awarded by opening tickets with Aruba’s Support Service. Additionally, if the customer is inactive in their use of Aruba’s Cloud Computing services, they will not receive a refund; especially if they have purchased a monthly plan.
I find this SLA to be extensive and thorough. It covers the nature of the services Aruba provides, the length of time that it allows for them, and what occurs in circumstances that involve issues. With this SLA, Aruba’s customers should be able to know what to expect from their Cloud Service and more importantly, what do if the service fails.
Reference:
Aruba Cloud. (n.d.). Service Level Agreement. Retrieved from https://www.arubacloud.com/documents/tc-files/en/3_servicelevelagreement.aspx.
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