SLM is not SLA

By Denise Dubie, NetworkWorld.com, 03/24/03

The acronyms SLM (service-level management) and SLA (service-level agreement) are not synonymous. SLM, among accomplishing other goals, can help enterprise network managers automatically track how well service providers deliver on their SLAs. And SLAs, really just written contracts, serve as an insurance policy for companies getting Internet, network or application services from an external service provider or carrier.

Today IT departments are also learning the art of crafting internal SLAs for fellow departments, as more and more companies realize their IT organization provides valuable services that must be tracked as well. Creating the contracted agreements that are SLAs involves a lot of details, which include technical performance metrics as well as business objectives. Defining an SLA guarantee must be both relevant to business and achievable through the network infrastructure in place. Network executives must work with other departments to understand what they want to achieve and to communicate how the company's technology can deliver.

Once defined, tracking the performance of the network devices, systems, databases, Web and application servers against the pre-set thresholds poses another challenge. Many vendors attempt to address tracking external SLA performance to see if service providers deliver on their contracts. And management giants such as IBM Tivoli, Computer Associates, BMC and HP (and many others) also attempt to provide enterprise network managers SLM tools to also monitor internal network, application and SLA performance.

To read how network professionals sound off on the current SLM offerings and what needs to be in an ideal SLM package, check out this week's news story Wish list: What users want from SLM" and follow the links below:

• Getting to the heart of SLM• How to read an SLA
• Taking the SLM plunge? Tell us what you think
• Sifting through the SLM mess
• Searching for SLM tools
• Is QoS a prerequisite for SLM?
• Real SLM means being proactive
• The functions of SLM
• Getting ready for SLAs

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