Method and apparatus for designating and implementing support level agreements

A service level agreement (SLA) modeling tool, comprising:

• means for storing a plurality of component definitions, the component definitions having attributes describing available measurement monitors corresponding to the respective component, and having attributes describing allowable measurement ranges, wherein each component definition corresponds to one of a plurality of SLA levels;
• a user interface enabling a user to select one or more stored components, wherein the user also selects one of the plurality of SLA levels, the SLA level defining a non-compliance threshold for each enabled measurement monitor;
• means for deploying an installation module containing one or more of user selected measurement monitors and corresponding non-compliance thresholds to one or more target systems in response to a customer's request to implement the SLA, wherein a network service subject component defines a delivery mechanism for the means for deploying, and wherein the installation module automatically installs one or more measurement monitors and notification processes on each target system;
• means for automatically generating a first deliverable that enables appropriate monitors, thresholds, and notification methods to be automatically installed on each target system;
• means for automatically generating a second deliverable that is a textual version of the SLA to be included in a provider contract to define one or more of target components and costs;
• and
• means for determining cost and penalty information related to the thresholds.

A system for automatically implementing a service level agreement (SLA) in a utility data center (UDC), comprising:

• a UDC having at least one control plane, each control plane controlling a plurality of components, the components comprising at least one virtual local area network (VLAN, or Enterprise);
• an environmental component description corresponding to an enterprise in the UDC;
• and
• a service level agreement (SLA) modeling system using the environmental component description of an enterprise to customize a display of a graphic user interface (GUI), wherein the GUI provides valid SLA choices for a user, the valid choices corresponding to the environmental component description, and wherein the SLA modeling system deploys an installation module containing the environmental component description to components of an enterprise in response to the user's request to implement the SLA, wherein a network service subject component defines a delivery mechanism for deploying the installation module, and wherein the installation module automatically generates a first deliverable that enables appropriate monitors, thresholds, and notification methods to be automatically installed on each target system, automatically generates a second deliverable that is a textual version of the SLA to be included in a provider contract to define one or more of target components and costs, and automatically installs one or more measurement monitors and notification processes on each component of the enterprise.