Relating New Service Instances

Service instances can be linked together to form a service hierarchy. The link between service instances is established using special SLAs (often called OLAs or underpinning contracts). Such SLAs are similar to normal SLAs in the sense that they specify which service instance is used to provide the service, and which service offering dictates the service level targets. But rather than specifying which end users are covered, such SLAs specify which service instances make use of (or consume) the service that is provided.

The Safety First Development service instance, for example, uses the following two service instances:

• Virtual Windows for Safety First Development
• Database for Safety First Development

Link these two ‘child’ service instances to the Safety First Development service instance as follows:

1. Open a new SLA.
2. Give it the name “Bronze Virtual Windows for Safety First Development”.
3. Set the status to “Active”.
4. In the Customer field, select “Widget Data Center”.
5. Rodney Wilson is the customer representative, because his service relies on the Windows Server service.
6. Howard Tanner is the service level manager of Widget Data Center.
7. The service offering is “Bronze Virtual Windows Server”.
8. The service instance that will provide the service is “Virtual Windows for Safety First Development”.
9. The SLA should start today.
10. Save the SLA.
11. Edit the SLA again: now the Coverage section is available (creating an SLA needs this 2-step approach; only when the SLA has been created, it is clear if the coverage can be defined in the working account or in a trusted account and if the actual user has the role to do so).
12. In the Coverage section, select the option “Members of Support Teams of the Following Service Instances”. This is what makes the SLA special.
13. Click on ‘Link Service Instances…’ and select the Safety First Development service instance to indicate that the members of its support team are to be covered by this SLA.
14. Save this first SLA and open a new one.
15. Give it the name “Standard Microsoft SQL Server Database for Safety First Development”.
16. Set the status to “Active”.
17. In the Customer field, select “Widget Data Center”.
18. Rodney Wilson is the customer representative, because his service relies on the Database service.
19. Howard Tanner is the service level manager of Widget Data Center.
20. The service offering is “Standard Microsoft SQL Server Database”.
21. The service instance that will provide the service is “Database for Safety First Development”.
22. This SLA should also start today.
23. Save the SLA.
24. Edit the SLA again
25. The option “Members of Support Teams of the Following Service Instances” should be selected again in the Coverage section.
26. Finally, click on ‘Link Service Instances…’ and select the Safety First Development service instance.

Now that these two SLAs have been registered, all members of the Application Development team are able to submit requests for the Virtual Windows and Database service instances that the Safety First Development service instance relies on.

Go ahead and register four more SLAs to ensure that the Application Development team can also rely on the support from the Windows Server and Database Administration teams for the test and production environments of the Safety First service. The steps are almost identical for the test environment. Keep in mind, however, that Rodney requires a higher level of service for the production environment. That is why he selected the Silver Virtual Windows Server service offering and the Premium Microsoft SQL Server Database service offering for the Safety First Production service instance.

When you are done, you should have registered six new SLAs, i.e. one SLA for each line you drew between the new service instances in Exercise 2.

Question:

To check your work, go to the Analytics console and open the Service Navigator. You should see a green circle that represents the Safety First service. Click on it to see its service instances and their ‘children’. Note that each line between two service instances (i.e. between two blue circles) represents an SLA.

Next Exercise