OpenSLA
An SLA standard proposal, intended to get the conversation started
Quick Link: OpenSLA Github repository
What is it?
An SLA or Service Level Agreement sets out the terms of the expected or deliverable levels of service for an API.
Whilst APIs have a common standard for the data and operational contract, known as an OAS or Open API Specification, no documented standards exist for SLAs.
Open SLA is a proposal / framework / basis for describing an API's capabilities in terms of:
- Availability
- Latency
- Capacity
- Recovery
- Accessibility of the owner
The OpenSLA documentation has been written in the style of the OpenAPI documentation, in order for it to be easily understood and adopted by developers and designers who are already using the OpenAPI standards.
Why is it needed?
As organisations rely more and more on APIs it becomes more necessary to understand the capabilities of the services they rely upon. An SLA is the perfect tool for a provider to use to express the known capabilities of an API to potential consumers.
Using a structured documentation format, such as YAML, allows contracts to be expressed in a human readable and computer parsable manner. This, in turn, facilitates the generation of visual expression of capabilities, promoting the SLA contract to be a first class citizen in the API ecosystem.
Where is the documentation?
Being open (as in welcoming of suggestions and improvements) the documentation is hosted on Github. This means anyone can easily use, share or collaborate on the standard.
Visit the OpenSLA Github repository to find out more.
How does Apiway support OpenSLA?
We designed OpenSLA because we identified that SLAs are a vital component of making APIs 'enterprise ready'. Our API platforms use OpenSLA contracts to set rate-limiting for consumers, provide API KPIs in relation to the SLAs and provide capacity planning.