Q6: What is an SLA, SLO, and SLI?
An SLI is a measured indicator, such as the percentage of successful requests or p95 latency. An SLO is the target for that indicator, such as 99.9% successful requests over 30 days. An SLA is an external agreement that may specify consequences if targets are missed. Teams use SLOs and error budgets to balance release velocity with reliability work.
Key Takeaways
- SLI is the measurement; SLO is the target; SLA is the agreement.
- Use error budgets to make reliability trade-offs explicit.