[Feature flag] Roll out `ci_fix_max_includes`

Summary

This issue is to rollout the feature on production, that is currently behind the ci_fix_max_includes feature flag.

Throughout roll out we will be monitoring the json.pipeline_includes_count metric in Elastic, which tells us how many include files are being used in pipelines (including duplicates).

MR that introduced the FF: Fix to prevent unlimited number of CI includes (!112963 - merged)

Owners

• Team: Pipeline Authoring
• Most appropriate slack channel to reach out to: #g_pipeline_authoring
• Best individual to reach out to: @lma-git
• PM: @dhershkovitch

Expectations

What are we expecting to happen?

Users will not be able to nest more than the maximum (150) number of includes in their CI config (duplicates counted).

What might happen if this goes wrong?

It's possible that customers who have over 150 includes in their existing pipeline will hit a validation error. However, the logs have indicated that there are currently (as of 2023-03-09 9:30AM PST) no customers beyond the limit.

If there is a widespread issue of customers hitting a "maximum includes" validation error or other related issue, turn off the feature flag.

What can we check for monitoring production after rollouts?

Monitor the json.pipeline_includes_count metric in Elastic, which tells us how many include files are being used in pipelines (including duplicates). The counts should be below or equal to the maximum.

Note that this logging will be removed after this feature is deemed stable.

Rollout Steps

Note: Please make sure to run the chatops commands in the slack channel that gets impacted by the command.

Rollout on non-production environments

• Verify the MR with the feature flag is merged to master.
• Verify that the feature MRs have been deployed to non-production environments with:
  • /chatops run auto_deploy status <merge-commit-of-your-feature>
• Enable the feature globally on non-production environments.
  • /chatops run feature set <feature-flag-name> 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

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).

• Ensure that the feature MRs have been deployed to both production and canary.
  • /chatops run auto_deploy status <merge-commit-of-your-feature>
• Depending on the type of actor you are using, pick one of these options:
  • If you're using project-actor, you must enable the feature on these entries:
    • /chatops run feature set --project=gitlab-org/gitlab,gitlab-org/gitlab-foss,gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com <feature-flag-name> true
  • If you're using group-actor, you must enable the feature on these entries:
    • /chatops run feature set --group=gitlab-org,gitlab-com <feature-flag-name> true
  • If you're using user-actor, you must enable the feature on these entries:
    • /chatops run feature set --user=<your-username> <feature-flag-name> 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.
  • Between every step wait for at least 15 minutes and monitor the appropriate graphs on https://dashboards.gitlab.net.
  • If the feature flag in code has an actor, perform actor-based rollout.
    • /chatops run feature set <feature-flag-name> <rollout-percentage> --actors
  • If the feature flag in code does NOT have an actor, perform time-based rollout (random rollout).
    • /chatops run feature set <feature-flag-name> <rollout-percentage> --random
  • Enable the feature globally on production environment.
    • /chatops run feature set <feature-flag-name> true
• Observe appropriate graphs on https://dashboards.gitlab.net and verify that services are not affected.
• 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 to true.
  • Review what warrants a changelog entry and decide if a changelog entry is needed.
• 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 <feature-flag-name> --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 <feature-flag-name>".
  • 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 <feature-flag-name> 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.
• Clean up the feature flag from all environments by running these chatops command in #production channel:
  • /chatops run feature delete <feature-flag-name> --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 ci_fix_max_includes false