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Create SLOs

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See how to create an SLO step by step

Service level objectives (SLOs) define the performance targets your services must meet to deliver a positive user experience. In this SLO creation tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up service level objectives on the Nobl9 platform, whether you’re monitoring user journeys, internal services, or infrastructure components. Tailor your Nobl9 SLO setup by defining performance targets that meet your specific requirements.

You can use SLI Analyzer before creating an SLO to assess metrics from your data source. Experiment with different targets and view how error budgets change to identify the acceptable performance level. This data-driven approach ensures that your SLO created from the analysis is grounded in real metrics.

Step-by-step​

To create an SLO on the Nobl9 Web:

  1. Go to Service Level Objectives.
  2. Click .
  3. Select a Service.
    It will be the location for your SLO in Nobl9.
  4. Select your data source.
  5. Metric refers to the way of calculating and interpreting data from your data source.
    • Threshold metric is defined by a single numerical value (the threshold) that separates satisfactory performance from unsatisfactory performance. It's represented by a single time series evaluated against the threshold.
    • Ratio metric expresses the performance as a fraction or proportion, typically by dividing the number of successful events by the total number of potential events (successes + failures). It's represented by two-time series for comparison for good events and total events.
      For ratio metrics, select the Data count method.

      SLI values for good and total
      When choosing the query for the ratio SLI (countMetrics), keep in mind that the values ​​resulting from that query for both good and total:
      • Must be positive.
      • While we recommend using integers, fractions are also acceptable.
        • If using fractions, we recommend them to be larger than 1e-4 = 0.0001.
      • Shouldn't be larger than 1e+20.
  6. Enter the query
  7. Define the Time window for your SLO:
  8. Configure the Error budget calculation method and Objectives:
    • Occurrences method counts good attempts against the count of total attempts.
    • Time Slices method measures how many good minutes were achieved (when a system operates within defined boundaries) during a time window.
    • You can define up to 12 objectives for an SLO.

      • Similar threshold values for objectives
      To use similar threshold values for different objectives in your SLO, we recommend differentiating them by setting varying decimal points for each objective.
      For example, if you want to use threshold value 1 for two objectives, set it to 1.0000001 for the first objective and to 1.0000002 for the second one.
  9. Define your SLO objectives
  10. Specify general settings for your SLO
  11. Add any attributes like labels or links
  12. Click Create SLO.

Tips on naming and structure​

If you're unsure how to proceed, here are some examples of naming and structure to give you a clearer idea of how things could be organized:

Use actionable names:
Name SLOs based on what they measure or monitor for better understanding of SLO purpose.
For example, API response time, Error rate, Page load success.

Be specific and clear:
Define SLOs with a clear description of the service boundary, the user experience, and expectation.
For example, clarify: API response time below 300 ms for 95% of requests instead of using vague terms like good response time.

Align with impact:
Focus SLOs on what truly affects your monitoring target.
For example, Track error rates for critical APIs or Uptime for user-facing services.

Keep SLOs modular:
Break it down into manageable components for better tracking and troubleshooting.
For example, have specific SLOs for backend processing times, overall uptime, error rates, etc.

Wondering which metric type to select? Let us help you decide

Useful links

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