When will I receive my Course Certificate?

If you complete the course successfully, your electronic Course Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Course Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile.

Why can’t I audit this course?

This course is currently available only to learners who have paid or received financial aid, when available.

Is financial aid available?

Yes. In select learning programs, you can apply for financial aid or a scholarship if you can’t afford the enrollment fee. If fin aid or scholarship is available for your learning program selection, you’ll find a link to apply on the description page.

SLIs and SLOs Demystified

Save on skills that make you shine with 40% off 3 months of Coursera Plus. Save now

SLIs and SLOs Demystified

Instructor: Packt - Course Instructors

Included with

Learn more

14 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

14 modules

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals.

Intermediate level

Recommended experience

2 weeks to complete

at 10 hours a week

Flexible schedule

Learn at your own pace

What you'll learn

Formulate and implement SLIs and SLOs for system reliability
Manage incidents using observability and monitoring techniques
Align reliability objectives with business and technical goals

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Learn more about Coursera for Business

logos of Petrobras, TATA, Danone, Capgemini, P&G and L'Oreal

There are 14 modules in this course

In today's fast-paced digital world, maintaining system reliability is crucial for business continuity and customer satisfaction. This course introduces the core principles of Service Level Indicators (SLIs) and Service Level Objectives (SLOs), equipping you with the knowledge and strategies to measure, manage, and optimize reliability in complex systems.

Through a structured workshop-style approach, you’ll learn how to design and implement SLIs and SLOs that directly align with business goals. By applying industry best practices, you’ll gain the confidence to make informed decisions that balance innovation with performance stability. What makes this course unique is its blend of theoretical clarity and hands-on application. You won’t just learn the definitions—you’ll apply them to real-world scenarios involving observability, incident management, and error budgeting. This course is designed for SREs, DevOps professionals, software engineers, and business leaders looking to improve service reliability. A basic understanding of cloud systems and monitoring tools will help you get the most out of it.

In this section, we link reliability pillars, roles, and observability practices to mapping precise SLIs into achievable SLOs, and weigh operational and business risks arising from misaligned indicators.

What's included

2 videos5 readings1 assignment

2 videosTotal 3 minutes

Course Overview Video1 minute
SLIs and SLOs at the Heart of Reliability - Overview Video1 minute

5 readingsTotal 90 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Challenges and Opportunities of the Reliability Engineering Role20 minutes
Aligning Reliability Goals and Objectives Across the Hierarchy10 minutes
Some Best Practices for Setting Up Effective Monitoring Systems and Dashboards20 minutes
Additional Examples and Case Studies20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

System Reliability and Performance Metrics10 minutes

In this section, we build a dedicated SLI/SLO team, detail SRE, owner and stakeholder roles, and discuss adapting structures to organizational culture to strengthen reliability, availability and business alignment.

What's included

1 video6 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

Establishing an SLI and SLO Team - Overview Video1 minute

6 readingsTotal 90 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
A Case Study to Illustrate the Impact of a Dedicated Team10 minutes
Identifying Key Stakeholders and Subject Matter Experts Within the Organization10 minutes
Tailoring to Team and Organizational Needs20 minutes
Ensuring Alignment With Organizational Objectives20 minutes
Implementing the Best Approach for Your Team10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Building Effective SLI and SLO Teams10 minutes

In this section, we connect customer-centric SLIs and SLOs to each stage of the user journey, mapping KPIs, setting data-driven performance thresholds, and analyzing trends to prioritize reliability improvements.

What's included

1 video5 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

Things to Consider When Crafting Your SLIs and SLOs - Overview Video1 minute

5 readingsTotal 90 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Amazon's Customer-Centric Approach to Customer Retention20 minutes
Understanding Key Metrics and Their Role in Customer Satisfaction10 minutes
Navigating the User Journey20 minutes
The Role of User Journey Mapping20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Crafting Effective SLIs and SLOs10 minutes

In this section, we establish core observability via metrics, logs, events, and traces, link these insights to SLIs and SLOs, and practice data-driven reliability decisions.

What's included

1 video4 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

Observability and Monitoring Are a Necessity - Overview Video1 minute

4 readingsTotal 70 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Data-Driven Decision-Making for SLI and SLO Optimization20 minutes
Integrating Observability Thinking Into the SLI and SLO Journey20 minutes
Techniques for Real-Time Alerting, Visualization, and Reporting10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Observability and Monitoring Fundamentals10 minutes

In this section, we link SLIs, SLOs and error budgets to real monetary outcomes, quantifying downtime costs, proving SRE ROI, and framing reliability discussions in clear financial language.

What's included

1 video3 readings1 assignment

In this section, we learn to craft service level indicators, set service level objectives, and honor service level agreements by tracing customer journeys and defining precise technical boundaries.

What's included

1 video5 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

Workshop Preparation: Structuring the SLI and SLO Conversation - Overview Video1 minute

5 readingsTotal 100 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Defining and Mapping Personas and Journeys20 minutes
Mapping the User Journey20 minutes
Identifying Your System's Boundaries20 minutes
Focusing SLIs on Customer Journey Metrics20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Service Level Management and Customer Relationship Fundamentals10 minutes

In this section, we map user journeys to precise SLIs, define SLOs for availability, latency, and error budgets, and prioritize indicators through personas, system boundaries, and architectural touchpoints.

What's included

1 video4 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

SLIs and SLOs for Web Applications - Overview Video1 minute

4 readingsTotal 80 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Identifying Personas and the Persona Journey20 minutes
Establishing Application (System) Boundaries20 minutes
Implementing SLIs With Accurate Touchpoints Based on the System Specifications20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

SLI and SLO Implementation in Web Applications10 minutes

In this section, we design SLIs and SLOs for distributed multi-tier architectures, compare cloud versus on-premises impacts, map system boundaries, and prioritize reliability metrics using persona journeys.

What's included

1 video5 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

SLIs and SLOs for Distributed Systems - Overview Video1 minute

5 readingsTotal 80 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Establishing Application (System) Boundaries20 minutes
Specifying SLI Types Based on the Identified System Boundaries20 minutes
Implementing SLIs With Accurate Touchpoints Based on the System Specifications10 minutes
Understanding Required Considerations When Prioritizing SLIs and SLOs10 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

SLIs and SLOs in Distributed System Management10 minutes

In this section, we Design database-centric Service Level Indicators and Objectives by linking architecture, persona journeys and boundaries to metrics that support performance, availability, integrity and recovery goals.

What's included

1 video6 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

Optimizing SLIs and SLOs for Database Performance - Overview Video1 minute

6 readingsTotal 120 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
Defining the Persona Journey20 minutes
Setting Journey Expectations20 minutes
Establishing Application (System) Boundaries20 minutes
SLI Specification20 minutes
SLI Implementation20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Optimizing Service Level Indicators and Objectives for Database Systems10 minutes

In this section, we map new feature workflows to SLIs and SLOs-cache hit ratio, redirect latency, error rate-ranked by business impact through persona-driven analysis.

What's included

7 readings1 assignment

In this section, we Configure Service Level Objective alerts, monitor via Service Level Indicators, and interpret error budgets to balance rapid incident detection with sustainable on call cadence.

What's included

1 video6 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

SLO Monitoring and Alerting - Overview Video1 minute

6 readingsTotal 100 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
SLO Monitoring Concepts10 minutes
Scenario 1: Monitoring and Alerting for Web Application SLOs10 minutes
Scenario 2: Monitoring and Alerting for Distributed Systems SLOs20 minutes
Establishing SLO Alerting Criteria20 minutes
SLO Alerting Rules20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Service Level Objective Monitoring and Alerting Fundamentals10 minutes

In this section, we build real-time SLI dashboards and conduct cross-functional iterative SLO reviews, using AI-driven anomaly detection to adjust reliability targets and maintain metrics aligned with changing business needs.

What's included

1 video4 readings1 assignment

In this section, we explore incident management that maps Service Level Indicators, including Mean Time to Detection and Time to Acknowledge, to Service Level Objectives and sharper on call workflows.

What's included

1 video5 readings1 assignment

1 videoTotal 1 minute

SLO Preservation and Incident Management - Overview Video1 minute

5 readingsTotal 90 minutes

Introduction20 minutes
SLIs for Incident Management Metrics20 minutes
Time to Detection20 minutes
MTTD SLO10 minutes
Extending Accountability to Product Engineering Teams20 minutes

1 assignmentTotal 10 minutes

Service Level Objectives and Incident Management Fundamentals10 minutes

In this section, we package SLIs and SLOs as a service, map a full product lifecycle, and tie reliability metrics to KPIs, OKRs, and SLAs for practical, customer-aligned engineering.

What's included

1 video3 readings1 assignment

Instructor

Packt - Course Instructors

Packt

1,836 Courses513,527 learners

Offered by

Packt

Explore more from Security

Status: Free Trial
Simplilearn
Foundations of Site Reliability Engineering Training
Course
Status: Free Trial
Board Infinity
MLOps and LLMOps: Deploying and Scaling AI in Production
Course
Packt
Essential Guide to LLMOps
Course
Status: Preview
École Polytechnique
Physics of silicon solar cells
Course

Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.

Learner since 2018

"To be able to take courses at my own pace and rhythm has been an amazing experience. I can learn whenever it fits my schedule and mood."

Jennifer J.

Learner since 2020

"I directly applied the concepts and skills I learned from my courses to an exciting new project at work."

Larry W.

Learner since 2021

"When I need courses on topics that my university doesn't offer, Coursera is one of the best places to go."

Chaitanya A.

"Learning isn't just about being better at your job: it's so much more than that. Coursera allows me to learn without limits."

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can preview the first video and view the syllabus before you enroll. You must purchase the course to access content not included in the preview.

If you decide to enroll in the course before the session start date, you will have access to all of the lecture videos and readings for the course. You’ll be able to submit assignments once the session starts.

Once you enroll and your session begins, you will have access to all videos and other resources, including reading items and the course discussion forum. You’ll be able to view and submit practice assessments, and complete required graded assignments to earn a grade and a Course Certificate.

SLIs and SLOs Demystified

SLIs and SLOs Demystified

What you'll learn

Skills you'll gain

Details to know

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

There are 14 modules in this course

SLIs and SLOs at the Heart of Reliability

What's included

Establishing an SLI and SLO Team

What's included

Things to Consider When Crafting Your SLIs and SLOs

What's included

Observability and Monitoring Are a Necessity

What's included

The Financial Impact of Not Adopting Indicators

What's included

Workshop Preparation: Structuring the SLI and SLO Conversation

What's included

SLIs and SLOs for Web Applications

What's included

SLIs and SLOs for Distributed Systems

What's included

Optimizing SLIs and SLOs for Database Performance

What's included

Developing SLIs and SLOs for New Features

What's included

SLO Monitoring and Alerting

What's included

Service Level Performance Metrics: Daily Operations

What's included

SLO Preservation and Incident Management

What's included

SLIs and SLOs as a Service

What's included

Instructor

Offered by

Explore more from Security

Foundations of Site Reliability Engineering Training

MLOps and LLMOps: Deploying and Scaling AI in Production

Essential Guide to LLMOps

Physics of silicon solar cells

Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.

Jennifer J.

Larry W.

Chaitanya A.

Save on skills that make you shine with 40% off 3 months of Coursera Plus

Drive your business forward and empower your teams

Frequently asked questions

Can I preview a course before enrolling?

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?

What will I get when I enroll?

More questions