Create a service-level objective (SLO)
editCreate a service-level objective (SLO)
editThis functionality is in beta and is subject to change. The design and code is less mature than official GA features and is being provided as-is with no warranties. Beta features are not subject to the support SLA of official GA features.
Before creating an SLO, you need to configure your SLO access.
To create an SLO, go to Observability → SLOs:
- If you’re creating your first SLO, you’ll see an introductory page. Click the Create SLO button.
- If you’ve created SLOs before, click the Create new SLO button in the upper-right corner of the page.
From here, complete the following:
Define your SLI
editThe type of SLI to use depends on the location of your data. If you’re creating an SLO based on raw logs coming from your services, you can use a custom KQL SLI. If you’re creating an SLO based on services using application performance monitoring (APM), you can use an APM latency or APM availability SLI. See the following table for more on each type of SLI:
Custom KQL |
This indicator can be based on any elasticsearch index or index pattern you have. You define two queries, one that yields the good events and one that yields the total events from your index. Example: You could define a custom KQL indicator based on the |
APM latency |
This indicator is based on the APM data that we receive from your instrumented services and a latency threshold. Example: You could define an indicator on an APM service named |
APM availability |
This indicator is based on the APM data that we receive from your instrumented services. Example: You could define an indicator on an APM service named |
Custom KQL
editWhen defining a custom KQL SLI, you can set the following fields:
- Index — The index or index pattern you want to base the SLI upon.
- Timestamp field — The timestamp field used by the index.
- Query filter — A filter to apply on the index.
- Good query — The KQL query yielding the good events to take into account for computing the SLI.
- Total query — The KQL query yielding all events to take into account for computing the SLI.
APM latency or availability
editWhen defining an APM latency or APM availability SLI, you can set the following fields:
- Service name — The APM service name.
-
Service environment — Either
allor the specific environment. -
Transaction type — Either
allor the specific transaction type. -
Transaction name — Either
allor the specific transaction name. - Threshold (APM latency only) — The latency threshold in milliseconds (ms) to consider the request as good.
- Query filter — An optional query filter on the APM data.
Set your objectives
editAfter defining your SLI, you need to set your objectives. To set your objectives, complete the following:
Select your budgeting method
editYou can select either an occurrences or a timeslices budgeting method:
Occurrences |
Uses the number of good events and the number of total events to compute the SLO. Example: You have a 30 day rolling SLO with a 95% target, and over the past 30 days there were 1,355,700 total events. The error budget is If we had 1,300,000 good events over the same period, the observed value is |
Timeslices |
Breaks the overall time window into smaller slices of a defined duration and uses the number of good slices over the number of total slices to compute the SLO. Timeslice target (%) - Individual timeslices target that determines if the slice is good or bad. Timeslice window (in minutes) - The size of the timeslice window size. Example: A 30 days rolling SLO defined with 5 min slices has a total of |
Set your time window
editSelect the durations over which you want to compute your SLO. Then time window uses the data from the defined rolling period. For example, the last 30 days.
Set your target/SLO (%)
editThe SLO target objective in percentage.
Describe your SLO
editAfter setting your objectives, give your SLO a name, a short description, and add any relevant tags.
SLO burn rate alert rule
editWhen the Create an SLO burn rate alert rule checkbox is selected, the Create rule window opens immediately after you click the Create SLO button. Here you can define your SLO burn rate alert rule. For more information, see Create an SLO burn rate rule.