Basic SLA Approach Clause Samples

Basic SLA Approach. The GIG network infrastructure consists of multiple Network Service Domains (NSDs), each man- aged by a Network Service Provider (NSP). A notional view of the infrastructure is shown in Figure 4-1. The GIG network infrastructure serves a set of User Communities. A User Community is a group of users that support a specific mission. A User Community develops and manages one or more edge networks Head qua rt ers E dge Netwo rk – Use r Com mu nity A e Head qua rt ers E dge Netwo rk –User Com mu nity B e e Internet e Field Edge Netwo rk – Use r Com mu nity A Field Edge Netwo rk- Use r Com mu nity B Field Edge Ne two rk – Use r Co m muni ty B Encr ypt or A User Community might need transport service from one or more GIG NSPs. This service encom- passes connectivity between specific edge points1, and a level of assured performance and Quality of Ser- vice (QoS), typically stated in terms of minimum throughput packet loss, packet delay, and transport availability. To obtain this support, the User Community shall negotiate a Mission Service Level Agreement (MSLA) specifying the connectivity for multiple services and QoS needed for the mission. The MSLA shall also define reporting relationships and legal and financial obligations between the User Community and the NSPs. The User Community shall determine its workload and end-to-end performance requirements, includ- ing response time, packet delay, and reliability metrics for key transactions, file transfers and real time streams for each service. The development of these requirements shall be under the control of a Mission Planner (MP) associated with the User Community. The Mission Planner shall use the end-to-end per- formance requirements to derive a set of network QoS metrics to be included in the MSLA. The specific nature of the metrics and their range of values depend upon the applications that support the mission. Ex- ample metrics and supporting SLAs will be presented later in this document. The Mission Planner and a designated representative from the NSP shall negotiate the content of the MSLA. The NSP shall define a set of standard services and terms and conditions as a starting point for the negotiation. The MP and the NSP shall resolve any differences between the User Community re- quirements and the standard services. The results of this resolution process shall be documented in the MSLA. Figure 4-1 depicts a situation where a group of independent User Communities require service from one NSD. The case ...