L18. Azure Support Plans and Service Level Agreements
Video generating
Check back soon for the video lesson on Azure Support Plans and Service Level Agreements
AZ-900 tests the four Azure support plans, what SLAs mean, and how composite SLAs work. Knowing when Microsoft compensates you (service credits) and when it does not is critical.
Azure Support Plans
Microsoft offers four support plans with increasing capabilities and response times:
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Use Case | Severity A Response |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Free | Billing and subscription support only | N/A |
| Developer | ~$29 | Trial/non-production environments | 8 business hours |
| Standard | ~$100 | Production workloads | 2 hours |
| Professional Direct | ~$1,000 | Business-critical workloads | 1 hour |
- Only Developer and above include technical support
- Standard and above provide 24/7 access for Severity A (critical business impact)
- Professional Direct includes access to a pool of proactive advisory experts
Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
An SLA defines Microsoft's commitment for uptime and connectivity for a service. If Microsoft fails to meet the SLA, customers receive service credits (partial refunds as credits against future bills, not cash). Key AZ-900 SLA concepts:
- Most Azure services have a 99.9% uptime SLA minimum (8.76 hours downtime/year)
- Services with redundancy (availability zones, geo-redundancy) have higher SLAs (99.99% or more)
- Some free-tier or preview services have NO SLA
Composite SLAs
When an application depends on multiple services, the composite SLA is lower than any individual SLA. Calculation (AND relationship): Composite SLA = SLA-A × SLA-B
Example: Web app (99.95%) + database (99.99%) = 0.9995 × 0.9999 = 99.94% composite SLA Exam tip: Adding redundant components improves composite SLAs because failure of one does not cause total failure.
Increasing Your SLA
To achieve higher availability:
- Availability Zones: deploy across zones for 99.99% VM SLA
- Geo-redundancy: deploy across regions for disaster recovery
- Load balancing: distribute traffic across multiple instances
- Avoid single points of failure: every layer should have redundancy
Preview Services
Azure services in preview (public or private) typically have reduced or no SLAs and should not be used for production workloads. Exam tip: SLA violations result in service credits, not cash refunds. Preview services have no SLA. To raise the SLA, add redundancy.
- ✓Four support plans: Basic (free), Developer, Standard, Professional Direct; only Developer+ includes technical support
- ✓SLA violations result in service credits (billing credits), not cash refunds
- ✓Composite SLA = product of individual SLAs: 99.95% × 99.99% = 99.94%
- ✓Preview services typically have no SLA and should not be used for production
- ✓Adding availability zones improves VM SLA from 99.9% to 99.99%
1. An Azure web app (99.95% SLA) depends on Azure SQL Database (99.99% SLA). What is the composite SLA for the solution?
2. What does Microsoft provide when it fails to meet an Azure SLA commitment?
Recommended: Pluralsight
This free course covers the theory. Pluralsight adds guided video paths, hands-on Azure labs, and timed practice exams to help you pass AZ-900 with confidence.