An auditing system for multi-domain IP carrying Service Level Agreements

Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are well-known from a large variety of business branches. However, despite the increasing importance of the Internet and electronic communication, a fairly low dissemination of IP carrying SLAs is observed. IP carrying SLAs are offered by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) documenting network service levels such as maximum packet loss, maximum packet delay, or availability. Among the reasons for the low dissemination are certainly the difficult monitoring and measurement possibilities in a multi-provider environment. This paper presents an architecture for a multi-domain auditing system, which is able to monitor the fulfillment of service levels documented in SLAs across several domains. With the already proposed MeSA protocol this architecture presents a comprehensive solution. We conclude the paper with a detailed assessment, including simulation results that are based on real trace input data, showing the validity of the overall approach.