Cloud Storage Service Level Agreement (Cloud Storage SLA)

What does Cloud Storage Service Level Agreement (Cloud Storage SLA) mean?

A cloud storage service level agreement (cloud storage SLA) is a contract between a cloud storage service provider and customer. It defines the availability, uptime, redundancy and other service delivery assurances warranted to a customer by a provider, as well as provided compensation in the event of compliance failure or violation.

Techopedia explains Cloud Storage Service Level Agreement (Cloud Storage SLA)

A cloud storage SLA typically includes detailed information about a provider's storage infrastructure, including operations, maintenance and fault tolerance claims, as well as maximum provisioned storage capacity, programmatic read/write (R/W) operations, backup, information security (IS), data governance policies and service availability.

A cloud storage SLA is critical because storage is delivered as a service from a remote location, which presents potential security, privacy and data loss risks. A cloud storage SLA ensures that a provider maintains agreed service levels, and, in the event of realized risks, is liable for monetary or service reimbursement to customers.