A system administrator has decided to start a small data center venture for small businesses. What type of agreement should the sysadmin set up to meet the performance metrics defined in Service Level Agreements?

The most suitable agreement for the system administrator in this context is the Operational Level Agreement (OLA). An OLA is internally focused and lays out the expectations and responsibilities of various teams and departments within an organization to ensure the performance metrics defined in Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met.

In this scenario, since the system admin is managing a data center that serves small businesses, the OLA will help in coordinating between the different teams that may be involved, such as network management, server administration, and support staff. This coordination is essential to meet the SLAs established for client services, ensuring that all operational processes required to support the external commitments are functioning effectively.

By implementing an OLA, the administrator can clearly define roles, responsibilities, and performance standards that will help maintain the quality and reliability of the services provided to the small businesses. Having this level of internal agreement is crucial for operational success and ensuring that customer expectations are met consistently.