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Evergreen//One SLA Indicators In Pure1

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Introduction

As businesses increasingly rely on cloud-based storage solutions, ensuring adherence to service level agreements (SLAs) becomes a critical aspect of maintaining customer satisfaction and trust. Pure1’s SLA Indicators offer a powerful tool that allows users to monitor compliance with Evergreen//One SLAs efficiently and effectively.

In this document, we will delve into the significance of SLA Indicators and their role in enabling seamless array management. 

Note: For more information about Evergreen//One SLAs, refer to the Evergreen//One Service Level Agreement Guide.

SLIs Versus SLA Indicators

SLA Indicators should not be confused with Service Level Indicators (SLIs), as the former focuses on high-level compliance status with the Performance and Energy Efficiency SLAs, whereas the latter provides granular insights into Latency, Bandwidth, Load, Energy Efficiency, and Uptime, which go into calculating SLA status. SLA Indicators serve as a valuable snapshot and allow users to gauge overall compliance.

SLA Indicators in the Pure1 Subscriptions Dashboard

Pure1 Manage (Pure1) is an integrated local and cloud-based experience where users can monitor and manage their appliances. As of September 10th, 2023, Pure1 provides Evergreen//One customers with a new way to see the status of their SLAs. Users can see the health of their licenses by logging into Pure1 and selecting Subscriptions from the left sidebar. Currently SLA Indicators are available for the Performance and Energy Efficiency SLAs, with the rest to come in the near future.

Note: Refer to Pure1 Manage Overview for a directory of Pure1 resources and Pure1 Manage - Subscriptions for a walkthrough of the Subscriptions dashboard.

There are two areas in the dashboard where users may view the status of their SLAs. The first is at the top of the page in a table underneath the All Subscriptions by Status pie chart. Refer to the right side of the table:

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The benefit of this view is that users can see an overview of multiple licenses’ SLA Status at a glance. 

SLIs are displayed under each column labeled with its corresponding SLA, showing the specific numerical status of the SLAs. SLA Indicators, displayed as SLAs Status in the UI, show the status of the SLAs. In most cases, users will see On Target, which means the license is performing as expected. In some cases, licenses may display a Nearing Limit status, which means that the license is approaching its threshold for one or more SLAs, and Pure may need to take some action to prevent future SLA compliance issues. To find out which SLA is not performing as expected, users will refer to the second area for SLA Indicators.

The second place SLA Indicators are available is at the bottom of the dashboard under the Service Level Indicators heading.

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This area provides a detailed look at the status of each SLA in one license at a time. It also displays the current status against the target, and whether or not that target is being met. The SLA Indicator status is displayed directly underneath the SLA Name, which in this case is Bandwidth SLA and Energy Efficiency SLA in the UI.

In both areas of the dashboard, the SLA Indicators show a few statuses that describe the health of the license.

 

SLA Indicator Status

Definition

On Target

Displays when the conditions for the SLA are met and are projected to continue being met. 

Nearing Limit

Displays when the conditions for the SLA are met but there is a risk of a future miss based on current configuration. Requires urgent attention from the customer and intervention from the CSM.

Unknown

Displays when there is no data to calculate the status of an SLA. 

Not Eligible

Displays when the preconditions necessary for the SLA to be valid are not met. Only applicable to the Energy Efficiency SLA.

The Pure1 SLA Indicators are meant to be indicative, not definitive, when looking at whether the service is meeting its SLAs. It is not the sole data point to be used in any related escalations, and the existing requirements of the support ticket and RCA still apply. Refer to the Requesting Service Credits section of the Evergreen//One Service Level Agreement Guide for more information.

To learn more about the Performance and Energy Efficiency SLA Indicators in Pure1, see the headers Performance SLA Indicator Calculations and Energy Efficiency SLA Indicator Calculations

The “Nearing Limit” Status and SLA Misses

In rare situations, a customer may experience performance disruptions for a variety of reasons (to be determined during a Root Cause Analysis), in which case the SLA Indicators would display the Nearing Limit status. This change indicates that the arrays are approaching their maximum performance capabilities. When a license is Nearing Limit, that does not necessarily mean that Pure has failed to deliver on its SLAs. However, Pure may choose to take some action, such as changing the hardware configuration, to ensure that there are no potential SLA misses. 

In some cases, a license may show a Nearing Limit status because it has custom SLAs or other non-standard terms. Such licenses will be specially considered and SLAs may not apply  to non-standard configurations.

Performance SLA Indicator Calculations

Bandwidth is crucial for smooth data transfer in Evergreen//One, and is part of what the Performance SLA is based on; however, there are a variety of factors beyond bandwidth used to accurately assess a license’s performance.

The Performance SLA is measured by bandwidth, load, latency, and IOPs across all arrays in a license. Pure’s guarantee allows customers to distribute performance across arrays as needed by their workloads. Refer to the table below for details on each measurement in Performance SLA Indicator calculation:

 

Performance SLA Indicator Measures

Load 

Measures how busy an array is. If Load is low on one or more arrays, a license’s Total Bandwidth may be less while still meeting the Performance SLA. This represents a case where the guaranteed performance is available for the license, but is not currently being utilized. 

License Bandwidth 

Sum of the bandwidth (aka “throughput”) across all arrays in the license

License IOPs

Sum of IOPs across all arrays in the license

License Latency

The average latency across all arrays in the license

Performance SLA (Bandwidth) = Max(Reserve Capacity, EUC) x SLA Bandwidth Density*

*Refer to the Evergreen//One Product Guide for SLA values. A license’s SLA thresholds are based on the service tier and reserve commitment. For example, a //Block - Performance license with a 500 TiB reserve commitment has a bandwidth SLA of 500 TiB x 8MB/s/Tib=4GB/s.

For more information about Load, refer to the Array Load Statistics Quick Reference Guide.

Energy Efficiency SLA Indicator Calculations

Energy efficiency is a crucial concern for both customers and Pure’s commitment to sustainability. There are two main considerations when looking at Energy Efficiency SLA Indicator status calculations: daily energy efficiency and monthly average energy efficiency. Both daily and monthly energy efficiency are important factors in the SLA Indicator calculation.

Daily Energy Efficiency Calculations

Daily Average Energy Use

The sum of the hourly energy usage data points for each array for that day / number of data points / number of arrays

Reserve Capacity

Current license reserve capacity size + 25%

Estimated Effective Usable Capacity 

Sum of usable capacity for each array x overall license PRE ratio

Daily Energy Efficiency (Watts / TiB) = Daily Average Energy Use / max(Reserve Capacity + 25%, Estimated Effective Usable Capacity)

The Daily Energy Efficiency formula is how we calculate the Watts/TiB numbers underneath the Actual column in the UI. This is the metric we use to determine whether a license is at risk of missing the SLA for a single day.

 

Monthly Average Energy Efficiency Calculations

Average Monthly Energy Efficiency = the average of the daily energy efficiency values for the selected month

The Monthly Energy Efficiency formula is how we calculate the actual SLA and determine if it is met over the calendar month. Because the SLA is defined over a calendar month—made up of daily energy efficiency calculations—energy efficiency targets could theoretically be higher than the target value on specific days, while still meeting the SLA for that month. The standard service credit investigation process still applies. Refer to Evergreen//One Service Level Agreement Guide > Energy Efficiency Service Credits for more information and eligibility criteria for the Energy Efficiency SLA.

Conclusion

The SLA Indicators feature in Pure1 is a powerful tool that enables seamless monitoring of compliance with subscription SLAs. By providing a high-level view of license level compliance status, Pure1 empowers users to make informed decisions, optimize service management, and elevate customer experiences.

For additional questions or to file a request for service credits, please contact a Pure Customer Success Manager (CSM) or Business Critical Service (BCS) representative.