[Feature flag] Rollout of client Sentry feature flag (`enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration`)
Summary
This issue is to rollout using the new Sentry instance on production,
that is currently behind the enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration
feature flag.
- Disabled feature flag: Use
Sentry SDK v5
and report to theSentry v9 DSN
in the config (gitlab.yml) -
Enabled feature flag: Use
Sentry SDK v7
and report to theSentry v22+ DSN
in the settings (Admin UI values)
This is a user-actor feature flag, so we can do a progressive rollout for users.
Owners
- Team: grouprunner
- Most appropriate slack channel to reach out to: #wg_frontend-observability
- Best individual to reach out to:
@mrincon
@mbobin
- PM: N/A
Stakeholders
@samdbeckham
-
@timzallmann
(Executive sponsor)
Expectations
What are we expecting to happen?
All events and error generated on the clientside switch over to the new Sentry instance.
What might happen if this goes wrong?
The feature flag can be disabled to switch users over to report in our old Sentry (https://sentry.gitlab.net/) instance.
What can we monitor to detect problems with this?
We should monitor errors reported at https://sentry.gitlab.net/ and at the new instance.
What can we check for monitoring production after rollouts?
All our client side errors should appear in the new Sentry instance.
Rollout Steps
Rollout on non-production environments
- Ensure that the feature MRs have been deployed to non-production environments.
-
!102790 (merged) /chatops run auto_deploy status <merge-commit-of-your-feature>
-
-
Enable the feature globally on non-production environments. -
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration true --dev --staging --staging-ref
-
-
Verify that the feature works as expected. Posting the QA result in this issue is preferable. The best environment to validate the feature in is staging-canary as this is the first environment deployed to. Note you will need to make sure you are configured to use canary as outlined here when accessing the staging environment in order to make sure you are testing appropriately.
Specific rollout on production
- Ensure that the feature MRs have been deployed to both production and canary.
-
/chatops run auto_deploy status <merge-commit-of-your-feature>
-
-
Ensure the Sentry config (e.g. in gitabl.yml
) is present for the old Sentry instance (v9). - Enable
configure_sentry_in_application_settings
to enable configuration of the settings:-
/chatops run feature set --user=mrincon enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration true
-
-
Visit /admin/application_settings/metrics_and_profiling
to configure the Sentry settings for the new Sentry instance. -
Enable Enable Sentry error tracking at Admin UI Sentry settings. (https://gitlab.com/admin/application_settings/metrics_and_profiling) -
The gitlab application may have to restart in order for the settings to take place. - We are using user-actor, so we can enable the following to @mrincon can verify the settings are set up correctly:
-
/chatops run feature set --user=mrincon enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration true
-
-
Verify that the feature works on the specific entries. Posting the QA result in this issue is preferable.
Preparation before global rollout
-
Set a milestone to the rollout issue to signal for enabling and removing the feature flag when it is stable. -
Check if the feature flag change needs to be accompanied with a change management issue. Cross link the issue here if it does. -
Ensure that you or a representative in development can be available for at least 2 hours after feature flag updates in production. If a different developer will be covering, or an exception is needed, please inform the oncall SRE by using the @sre-oncall
Slack alias. -
Ensure that documentation has been updated (More info). -
Leave a comment on the feature issue announcing estimated time when this feature flag will be enabled on GitLab.com. -
Ensure that any breaking changes have been announced following the release post process to ensure GitLab customers are aware. -
Notify #support_gitlab-com
and your team channel (more guidance when this is necessary in the dev docs).
Global rollout on production
For visibility, all /chatops
commands that target production should be executed in the #production
slack channel and cross-posted (with the command results) to the responsible team's slack channel (#g_TEAM_NAME
).
-
Incrementally roll out the feature. - If the feature flag in code has an actor, perform actor-based rollout.
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 5 --random
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 10 --random
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 25 --random
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 50 --random
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 50 --actors
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration 75 --actors
-
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration true
-
- If the feature flag in code has an actor, perform actor-based rollout.
-
Leave a comment on the feature issue announcing that the feature has been globally enabled. -
Wait for at least one day for the verification term.
(Optional) Release the feature with the feature flag
If you're still unsure whether the feature is deemed stable but want to release it in the current milestone, you can change the default state of the feature flag to be enabled. To do so, follow these steps:
-
Create a merge request with the following changes. Ask for review and merge it. -
Set the default_enabled
attribute in the feature flag definition totrue
. -
Create a changelog entry.
-
-
Ensure that the default-enabling MR has been included in the release package. If the merge request was deployed before the monthly release was tagged, the feature can be officially announced in a release blog post. -
/chatops run release check <merge-request-url> <milestone>
-
-
Consider cleaning up the feature flag from all environments by running these chatops command in #production
channel. Otherwise these settings may override the default enabled.-
/chatops run feature delete enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration --dev --staging --staging-ref --production
-
-
Close the feature issue to indicate the feature will be released in the current milestone. -
Set the next milestone to this rollout issue for scheduling the flag removal. -
(Optional) You can create a separate issue for scheduling the steps below to Release the feature. -
Set the title to "[Feature flag] Cleanup enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration
". -
Execute the /copy_metadata <this-rollout-issue-link>
quick action to copy the labels from this rollout issue. -
Link this rollout issue as a related issue. -
Close this rollout issue.
-
WARNING: This approach has the downside that it makes it difficult for us to clean up the flag. For example, on-premise users could disable the feature on their GitLab instance. But when you remove the flag at some point, they suddenly see the feature as enabled and they can't roll it back to the previous behavior. To avoid this potential breaking change, use this approach only for urgent matters.
Release the feature
After the feature has been deemed stable, the clean up should be done as soon as possible to permanently enable the feature and reduce complexity in the codebase.
You can either create a follow-up issue for Feature Flag Cleanup or use the checklist below in this same issue.
-
Create a merge request to remove enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration
feature flag. Ask for review and merge it.-
Remove all references to the feature flag from the codebase. -
Remove the YAML definitions for the feature from the repository. -
Create a changelog entry.
-
-
Ensure that the cleanup MR has been included in the release package. If the merge request was deployed before the monthly release was tagged, the feature can be officially announced in a release blog post. -
/chatops run release check <merge-request-url> <milestone>
-
-
Close the feature issue to indicate the feature will be released in the current milestone. -
If not already done, clean up the feature flag from all environments by running these chatops command in #production
channel:-
/chatops run feature delete enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration --dev --staging --staging-ref --production
-
-
Close this rollout issue.
Rollback Steps
-
This feature can be disabled by running the following Chatops command:
/chatops run feature set enable_new_sentry_clientside_integration false