Q17 (20 points) Choose the two incorrect options regarding SLOs (service level objectives)...
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(20 points)
Choose the two incorrect options regarding SLOs (service level objectives) and SLAs (service level agreements) in the context of site reliability engineering.
Show answer & explanation
Option A is incorrect because legal liability attaches to SLA breaches, not SLO breaches—SLOs are internal engineering targets without contractual consequences. Option C is incorrect because SLOs are typically set higher (more stringent, harder to achieve) than SLAs to provide a safety margin; SLAs represent the minimum guaranteed threshold offered to customers. Options B and D are correct: SREs intentionally trigger controlled outages ("chaos engineering") within error budgets defined by SLOs, and SLAs are indeed set based on competitive positioning, engineering feasibility, and customer requirements.
Step-by-step Derivation:
Relationship between SLO and SLA: SLO (Service Level Objective) is an internal engineering target; SLA (Service Level Agreement) is a contractual commitment to customers. Hierarchy: SLO > SLA (SLO is more stringent). Legal consequences: SLA breaches trigger contractual remedies (damages, credits); SLO breaches are internal failures with no direct legal liability. Error budget concept: When within SLO, teams have freedom to conduct maintenance, experiments, or controlled failures ('intentional outages'). SLA derivation factors: Competitive analysis, technical feasibility, customer expectations. Therefore, A (legal liability for SLO breach) and C (SLAs harder than SLOs) are factually incorrect.