Inter-Domain SLA Enforcement in QoS-Enabled Networks

Traditionally, network Service Providers specify Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in order to guarantee service availability and performance to their customers. However, these SLAs are rather static and span a single provider domain. Thus, they are not applicable to a multi-domain environment (including edge networks of distributed Grid resources) and do not enable users with the flexibility to set up and monitor e2e services. In this chapter we present a framework for dynamic management of SLAs; the framework contains a collection of APIs and modules that allow for the dynamic creation, configuration, and delivery via automated management of an end-to-end SLA created from the merging of the per-domain SLAs. We assume that individual domains are QoS aware, since near real-time applications (e.g., IP voice and video sessions and Grids for remote control of sensors – instruments) may impose stringent performance requirements, even on over-engineered backbone and edge networks.