SMOAD ensures nonstop end-to-end connectivity with assured SLA
An SLA or service agreement is an agreement between the service provider and customer that is totally based on specific operating parameters. When buying a WAN connectivity service, it is important to figure out latency and uptime SLA figures. Moreover, real-world traffic performance should also be considered.
Let us understand the internal SLA. It is an agreement between enterprise departments offering a set of parameters specific to individual businesses, such as application flow and user requirements. Internal SLA provides business-level service requirements to prevent revenue loss.
SD-WAN technology should take into account the correlating requirements. SD-WAN is often branded as an internet virtual private network (VPN) technology, a cost-saving proposition that addresses user demands by providing access to the public cloud. SD-WAN can terminate any connectivity type. Internal SLAs can define the needs of SD-WAN providers in standard SLAs.
What are the key metrics in SLA?
Bandwidth is the amount of data transmitted in a given period and is crucial for measuring network connection speed.
Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from source to destination. The lower the latency, the faster the network connectivity.
The packet loss rate measures the proportion of lost data packets during transmission. Lower packet loss indicates higher reliability and stability.
Availability is the period during which a network connection is available. With 99.99% availability, the network connection experiences less than 4.39 minutes of downtime annually.
Fault recovery time is required to restore network operation’s normalcy after an outage.
With SD-WAN technology, you can experience network SLA through different means. SMOAD offers 100% SLA-driven network uptime with mobile aggregated data with inherent SIM slots. For more information, call us for a demo!
Difference between traditional VPN SLAs and SD-WAN
Service level agreements for internet VPN services are sophisticated. Service providers offer performance indicators, and the averages help in understanding the results that suggest consistent performance levels even during high latency times. In certain sectors, it results in revenue loss. The core provider’s network and local loop circuit are not included in traditional VPN SLAs.
Latency is just one issue; some of the other SLA measurements include network uptime and packet loss. The average figures are of less practical use. They give you an idea of WAN performance. The question is whether SLA is just an indication of performance or a commercial agreement.
SD-WAN facilitates internal SLAs depending on business factors like business-critical applications or traffic. To prioritise voice traffic, SMOAD SD-WAN will allow the usage of underlying MPLS transport, offering good quality of service across networks.
Enterprises sending traffic over the Internet can experience less traffic control than MPLS—moreover, enterprises research available connectivity types and real-world performance data before choosing an SD-WAN connection. Though real ping tests and traceroutes are not on offer, requesting figures does help.
The SD-WAN service performs application and traffic prioritisation when the primary connectivity is selected. When bandwidth is constrained, critical applications can gain the best access routes. SD-WAN is different from a granular level, which defines prioritisation. Sometimes, enterprises may require only a subset of users to enjoy special privileges during packet loss or traffic congestion. In such cases, SMOAD SD-WAN provides relief.
Reporting and internal SLAs for SD-WAN
With detailed reporting, an enterprise can build its own internal SLA based on its configuration rather than a commercial agreement. Reporting statistics help visualise network usage and aid in creating user profiles on more IP addresses. This allows IT teams to monitor network performance. As control over WAN performance improves using SD-WAN, it can bring SLA factors back into business. It differs from generic WAN SLAs as generating network performance insights may be time-consuming.
In such cases, instead of using jitter and latency figures, organisations determine which SLA factors meet the business demands. Internal SLAs can be created depending on factors like connectivity type, origin, and conditions. Moreover, it allows presenting to the IT teams to build per-department applications or even SLAs. SMOAD SD-WAN can replace different connectivity, and this makes the growth of internal SLAs powerful as it comes with the ability to span disaster recovery and multiple technologies.
When meaningful data is lacking, SLA is the only way to gain insights into network performance. It is easy to request real-time traffic performance figures from service providers, but their sales teams may have a strict disclosure policy.