Service-level agreement

About: Service-level agreement is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 4358 publications have been published within this topic receiving 75333 citations. The topic is also known as: SLA.

Holding-time-aware and availability-guaranteed connection provisioning in optical WDM mesh networks

Abstract: In optical wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) networks, the progress in new technologies is paving the road towards dynamic optical transport networks in which leasable circuits can be set up and released on a short-term basis while providing huge capacities to bandwidth-hungry applications Since interruption of a high-speed optical connection means a huge loss of data information, such connections need to be protected against failures On the other hand, the explosive growth of different traffic types such as data, voice and video requires differentiated services besides availability-guaranteed bandwidth Therefore, future network carriers need to meet strict SLA (service level agreement) guidelines, thus guaranteeing a level of service, as well as achieving efficient resource utilization Unprotected, shared-path, and dedicated-path protection techniques can be used to meet the differentiated availability requirements Recently, among the other service level specifications (SLSs), many new applications are identified by a predictable or known-in-advance holding-time So, for dynamic provisioning of availability-guaranteed connections in an optical mesh network, we investigate a new algorithm which exploits the knowledge of connection holding times to accomplish minimum backup capacity allocation as compared to the previous holding-time-unaware approach

When free is not really free: what does it cost to run a database workload in the cloud?

Abstract: The current computing trend towards cloud-based Database-as-a-Service (DaaS) as an alternative to traditional on-site relational database management systems (RDBMSs) has largely been driven by the perceived simplicity and cost-effectiveness of migrating to a DaaS. However, customers that are attracted to these DaaS alternatives may find that the range of different services and pricing options available to them add an unexpected level of complexity to their decision making. Cloud service pricing models are typically ‘pay-as-you-go' in which the customer is charged based on resource usage such as CPU and memory utilization. Thus, customers considering different DaaS options must take into account how the performance and efficiency of the DaaS will ultimately impact their monthly bill. In this paper, we show that the current DaaS model can produce unpleasant surprises --- for example, the case study that we present in this paper illustrates a scenario in which a DaaS service powered by a DBMS that has a lower hourly rate actually costs more to the end user than a DaaS service that is powered by another DBMS that charges a higher hourly rate. Thus, what we need is a method for the end-user to get an accurate estimate of the true costs that will be incurred without worrying about the nuances of how the DaaS operates. One potential solution to this problem is for DaaS providers to offer a new service called Benchmark as a Service (BaaS) where in the user provides the parameters of their workload and SLA requirements, and get a price quote.

Service level agreement (SLA) assurance for cloud services: a survey from a transactional risk perspective

Abstract: Cloud computing is a new paradigm for service-based computing and is gaining popularity. An efficient way for the assurances of the expected service levels in cloud computing is to establish a tailor-made Service Level Agreement (SLA) and to ensure the commitment of SLAs by service providers. In this paper, we conduct a survey of the state of the art in cloud SLA assurance from two aspects -- pre- and post-interaction phases, based on which research gaps in existing approaches are identified. New research requirements for SLA assurance are then presented.