Cloud Storage Service Level Agreement

A cloud storage service level agreement or cloud storage SLA is an agreement or contract between a cloud storage service provider and customer that specifies details of the service, usually in quantitative terms.

Typically, a cloud storage SLA pronounces actual levels of service such as, for instance – uptime, availability, redundancy, and the compensation that the customer is entitled to get in the event of compliance failure or violation, along with other service delivery assurances warranted to the customer by the provider. A cloud storage service provider normally offers a tiered service credit plan that gives users credits, based on the discrepancy between SLA specifications and the levels of actual service delivered.

Usually a public cloud storage service provides details of the service level that the user can expect on his website, and probably this will be same for all users. Notwithstanding, a business establishing service with a private cloud storage provider may negotiate for a more customized deal. In the case, a cloud storage SLA might constitute specification of retention policies, the number of copies that will be retained and storage locations etc.