Creating a composite

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This article provides prerequisites and steps to create a composite.

You can create a composite using Nobl9 web, sloctl and Terraform.

sloctl version

For full functionality, use sloctl version v0.3.0 or later.

Access requirements

To create a composite, the following permissions are required (fields with asterisks are mandatory):

Resource	Permission
Project*	The Create projects permission
SLO (component)*	The View permission to necessary components
Composite*	The Create/Edit permission to SLOs in the required project
Alert policy	The Edit and apply permission to the required alert policies
Alert method	The Apply permission to the necessary alert methods

Nobl9 Web

The Composite SLO wizard guides you through setting up Composite SLOs step by step. To access the Wizard, go to the SLO grid view, click Create SLO, and select Composite.

Step 1: General information

In this step, you provide basic details about your composite SLO to establish its identity and context.

• Display name: The name displayed for your composite SLO.
• Project: Select the project to which the composite SLO belongs.
• Service: Specify the associated service.
• Description (Optional): Add context or explanation for your Composite SLO.
• Labels (Optional): Attach metadata for organization and filtering.
• Links (Optional): Add references or supporting materials.

Step 2: Components

In this step, you define your Composite SLO's structure by configuring its composite settings and components. Learn more about composite structure.

Composite settings:

• Max delay: Specifies how long Nobl9 waits for delayed data from a component, measured from the last data point received by the most recent component.
• When delayed: Determines how Nobl9 handles data delayed beyond the max delay threshold:
  • Count as good: Treat delayed data as good.
  • Count as bad: Treat delayed data as bad.
  • Ignore: Exclude delayed components from calculations.

handling delayed data

For composites using the Occurrences budgeting method, delayed data marked as Count as good restores the error budget. Recommended for:

• Experimental SLOs with expected delays.
• SLOs with sparse metrics.

Learn more about delayed data in composites 2.0

Component Settings: A component SLO is an individual SLO that contributes to the overall performance and hierarchy of the composite structure. You can select up to 20 components for your composite SLO by clicking the Select components button and accessing the components selector:

The following settings are available for components:

• Weight: Represents the importance of each component. Assign higher weights to critical components and lower weights to less critical ones.
• Normalized weight: Reflects the relative importance of each component within the Composite SLO structure.
• Last data point: Indicates when the component last collected data. Components with outdated data may require attention.
• When delayed: Handles delayed data for individual components. Options:
  • Count as good: Treat delayed component data as good.
  • Count as bad: Treat delayed component data as bad.
  • Ignore: Exclude delayed components from calculations.

Step 3: Budget

Set the composite error budget and reliability targets within a defined time window.

tip

Learn more about composite's budget and targets in the composite guide.

Budget settings:

• Reliability target: Specify the desired reliability percentage.
• Error budget calculation method:
  • Occurrences: Calculates the ratio of good events to total events. Ideal for services with variable traffic, where each request is equally important.
  • Time slices: Calculates the ratio of good minutes to total minutes. Useful for services with consistent performance expectations.

Time window settings:

• Rolling: Monitors performance over a trailing time frame (e.g., the last 30 days).
• Calendar-aligned: Aligns performance tracking with calendar periods (e.g., monthly, quarterly).

Step 4: Alerting

Define alert policies to monitor your composite SLO effectively (optional). You can configure up to 20 alert policies to specify conditions and notification channels for timely alerts.

Step 5: Summary

Review and finalize your composite SLO configuration. The summary step:

• Summarizes the settings for all steps.
• Highlights incomplete or invalid configurations.
• Indicates steps requiring further action.

sloctl

1. Create a YAML file following the provided template:

General YAML

- apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
  kind: SLO
  metadata:
    name: string # Mandatory
    displayName: string # Optional
    project: string # Mandatory
  spec:
    description: string # Optional
    alertPolicies: array of alert policy names # Optional
    labels: # A map of labels you want to attach to the composite
      "key_1": # Label's key
        - "value_1" # Label's value
        - "value_2" # Label's value
      "key_2": # Label's key
        - "value_1" # Label's value
        - "value_2" # Label's value
    attachments: # Optional, links you need to attach to your composite
      - displayName: string # Optional
        url: url # Mandatory when using attachments
    budgetingMethod: Occurrences | Timeslices # Mandatory
    objectives:
      - displayName: string # Optional
        name: string # Mandatory
        target: number # Mandatory
        composite:
          maxDelay: 1m-1h # Mandatory
          components:
            objectives:
              - project: string # Mandatory
                slo: string # Mandatory
                objective: string # Mandatory
                weight: float64 # Mandatory
                whenDelayed: CountAsGood | CountAsBad | Ignore # Mandatory
    service: string # Mandatory
    timeWindows:
      - unit: enum # Mandatory, Day | Week | Month | Quarter | Year for calendar-aligned; Minute | Hour | Day for rolling
        count: number # Mandatory
        isRolling: boolean # Mandatory, true for the rolling time window, false for calendar-aligned
        calendar:
          startTime: a timestamp in the 24h format without the time zone # Mandatory for calendar-aligned time windows
          timeZone: string # Mandatory for calendar-aligned time windows

Working sample

- apiVersion: n9/v1alpha
  kind: SLO
  metadata:
    name: my-composite
    displayName: My composite
    project: my-project
    labels:
      key:
        - my-label
      value:
        - value-1
        - value-2
  spec:
    description: My composite SLO
    alertPolicies:
      - my-alert-policy-1
      - my-alert-policy-2
    attachments:
      - displayName: My attachment
        url: https://my-url.com
    budgetingMethod: Occurrences
    objectives:
      - displayName: My composite objective
        name: my-composite-objective
        target: 0.7
        composite:
          maxDelay: 15m
          components:
            objectives:
              - project: project-1
                slo: my-slo-1
                objective: my-objective-1
                displayName: My objective 1
                weight: 1
                whenDelayed: CountAsGood
              - project: project-2
                slo: my-slo-2
                objective: my-objective-2
                displayName: My objective 2
                weight: 3
                whenDelayed: CountAsBad
              - project: my-project-3
                slo: my-slo-3
                objective: my-objective-3
                displayName: My objective 3
                weight: 2.5
                whenDelayed: Ignore
    service: my-service
    timeWindows:
      - unit: Day
        count: 1
        isRolling: false
        calendar:
          startTime: 2020-04-20 10:40:00
          timeZone: Europe/Warsaw

Read the field reference for more information.

2. Run sloctl apply -f %path-to-your-YAML%

As a result, your composite appears in the grid under the Service Level Objectives Nobl9 Web section.

objective limit

You can add up to 20 objectives per single composite SLO