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[Feature flag] Roll out `ci_pipeline_process_worker_dedup_until_executed`

Summary

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

The MR that introduced the FF: Update PipelineProcessWorker deduplication stra... (!115261 - merged)

This change updates the PipelineProcessWorker's deduplication strategy from :until_executing to :until_executed, if_deduplicated: :reschedule_once, ttl: 1.minute.

Owners

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

Expectations

What are we expecting to happen?

This change is a refactor, so we are not expecting any visible effect from the customer's perspective. CI pipelines should process as usual.

The Sidekiq logs for PipelineProcessWorker may see a change in the number of deduplicated jobs (an increase is more likely). The logs will also indicate that the strategy used is :until_executed, if_deduplicated: :reschedule_once.

What might happen if this goes wrong?

If any error should occur, it would be related to CI pipeline processing. In such case, turn off the Feature Flag.

What can we monitor to detect problems with this?

Check SideKiq logs for any unusual errors or anomalies related to PipelineProcessWorker.

Also, per #397829 (comment 1383583711):

Additionally:

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).
  • Ensure that the feature flag rollout plan is reviewed by another developer familiar with the domain.

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).

(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.
  • 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>
  • This was just one part of the feature issue; we cannot close the issue yet. 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_pipeline_process_worker_dedup_until_executed false
Edited by Leaminn Ma