This guide describes how to develop Service Ping metrics using metrics instrumentation.
For a video tutorial, see the Adding Service Ping metric via instrumentation class.
NomenclatureInstrumentation class:
DatabaseMetric
, NumbersMetric
or GenericMetric
.Metric definition The Service Data metric YAML definition.
Hardening: Hardening a method is the process that ensures the method fails safe, returning a fallback value like -1.
All metrics must have a corresponding metric definition to be included in the service ping payload. A metric definition may have the instrumentation_class
field, which can be set to a class.
The defined instrumentation class should inherit one of the existing metric classes: DatabaseMetric
, NumbersMetric
or GenericMetric
.
The current convention is that a single instrumentation class corresponds to a single metric.
Using an instrumentation class ensures that metrics can fail safe individually, without breaking the entire process of Service Ping generation.
Database metricsWhenever possible we recommend using internal event tracking instead of database metrics. Database metrics can create unnecessary load on the database of bigger GitLab instances and potential optimisations can affect instance performance.
You can use database metrics to track data kept in the database, for example, a count of issues that exist on a given instance.
operation
: Operations for the given relation
, one of count
, distinct_count
, sum
, and average
.relation
: Assigns lambda that returns the ActiveRecord::Relation
for the objects we want to perform the operation
. The assigned lambda can accept up to one parameter. The parameter is hashed and stored under the options
key in the metric definition.start
: Specifies the start value of the batch counting, by default is relation.minimum(:id)
.finish
: Specifies the end value of the batch counting, by default is relation.maximum(:id)
.cache_start_and_finish_as
: Specifies the cache key for start
and finish
values and sets up caching them. Use this call when start
and finish
are expensive queries that should be reused between different metric calculations.available?
: Specifies whether the metric should be reported. The default is true
.timestamp_column
: Optionally specifies timestamp column for metric used to filter records for time constrained metrics. The default is created_at
.Example of a merge request that adds a database metric.
Optimization recommendations and examplesAny single query for a Service Ping metric must stay below the 1 second execution time with cold caches.
start
and finish
. These values can be memoized and reused, as in this example merge request.batch_size
for distinct_count
, as in this example merge request.module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class CountIssuesMetric < DatabaseMetric
operation :count
relation ->(options) { Issue.where(confidential: options[:confidential]) }
end
end
end
end
end
Batch counters Example
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class CountIssuesMetric < DatabaseMetric
operation :count
start { Issue.minimum(:id) }
finish { Issue.maximum(:id) }
relation { Issue }
end
end
end
end
end
Distinct batch counters Example
# frozen_string_literal: true
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class CountUsersAssociatingMilestonesToReleasesMetric < DatabaseMetric
operation :distinct_count, column: :author_id
relation { Release.with_milestones }
start { Release.minimum(:author_id) }
finish { Release.maximum(:author_id) }
end
end
end
end
end
Sum Example
# frozen_string_literal: true
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class JiraImportsTotalImportedIssuesCountMetric < DatabaseMetric
operation :sum, column: :imported_issues_count
relation { JiraImportState.finished }
end
end
end
end
end
Average Example
# frozen_string_literal: true
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class CountIssuesWeightAverageMetric < DatabaseMetric
operation :average, column: :weight
relation { Issue }
end
end
end
end
end
Estimated batch counters
Estimated batch counter functionality handles ActiveRecord::StatementInvalid
errors when used through the provided estimate_batch_distinct_count
method. Errors return a value of -1
.
This functionality estimates a distinct count of a specific ActiveRecord_Relation in a given column, which uses the HyperLogLog algorithm. As the HyperLogLog algorithm is probabilistic, the results always include error. The highest encountered error rate is 4.9%.
When correctly used, the estimate_batch_distinct_count
method enables efficient counting over columns that contain non-unique values, which cannot be assured by other counters.
estimate_batch_distinct_count
method
Method:
estimate_batch_distinct_count(relation, column = nil, batch_size: nil, start: nil, finish: nil)
The method includes the following arguments:
relation
: The ActiveRecord_Relation to perform the count.column
: The column to perform the distinct count. The default is the primary key.batch_size
: From Gitlab::Database::PostgresHll::BatchDistinctCounter::DEFAULT_BATCH_SIZE
. Default value: 10,000.start
: The custom start of the batch count, to avoid complex minimum calculations.finish
: The custom end of the batch count to avoid complex maximum calculations.The method includes the following prerequisites:
The supplied relation
must include the primary key defined as the numeric column. For example: id bigint NOT NULL
.
The estimate_batch_distinct_count
can handle a joined relation. To use its ability to count non-unique columns, the joined relation must not have a one-to-many relationship, such as has_many :boards
.
Both start
and finish
arguments should always represent primary key relationship values, even if the estimated count refers to another column, for example:
estimate_batch_distinct_count(::Note, :author_id, start: ::Note.minimum(:id), finish: ::Note.maximum(:id))
Examples:
Simple execution of estimated batch counter, with only relation provided, returned value represents estimated number of unique values in id
column (which is the primary key) of Project
relation:
estimate_batch_distinct_count(::Project)
Execution of estimated batch counter, where provided relation has applied additional filter (.where(time_period)
), number of unique values estimated in custom column (:author_id
), and parameters: start
and finish
together apply boundaries that defines range of provided relation to analyze:
estimate_batch_distinct_count(::Note.with_suggestions.where(time_period), :author_id, start: ::Note.minimum(:id), finish: ::Note.maximum(:id))
operation
: Operations for the given data
block. Currently we only support add
operation.data
: a block
which contains an array of numbers.available?
: Specifies whether the metric should be reported. The default is true
.# frozen_string_literal: true
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class IssuesBoardsCountMetric < NumbersMetric
operation :add
data do |time_frame|
[
CountIssuesMetric.new(time_frame: time_frame).value,
CountBoardsMetric.new(time_frame: time_frame).value
]
end
end
end
end
end
end
end
You must also include the instrumentation class name in the YAML setup.
time_frame: 28d
instrumentation_class: IssuesBoardsCountMetric
Generic metrics
You can use generic metrics for other metrics, for example, an instance’s database version.
value
: Specifies the value of the metric.available?
: Specifies whether the metric should be reported. The default is true
.Example of a merge request that adds a generic metric.
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class UuidMetric < GenericMetric
value do
Gitlab::CurrentSettings.uuid
end
end
end
end
end
end
Prometheus metrics
This instrumentation class lets you handle Prometheus queries by passing a Prometheus client object as an argument to the value
block. Any Prometheus error handling should be done in the block itself.
value
: Specifies the value of the metric. A Prometheus client object is passed as the first argument.available?
: Specifies whether the metric should be reported. The default is true
.Example of a merge request that adds a Prometheus metric.
module Gitlab
module Usage
module Metrics
module Instrumentations
class GitalyApdexMetric < PrometheusMetric
value do |client|
result = client.query('avg_over_time(gitlab_usage_ping:gitaly_apdex:ratio_avg_over_time_5m[1w])').first
break FALLBACK unless result
result['value'].last.to_f
end
end
end
end
end
end
Create a new metric instrumentation class
The generator takes the class name as an argument and the following options:
--type=TYPE
Required. Indicates the metric type. It must be one of: database
, generic
, redis
, numbers
.--operation
Required for database
& numbers
type.
database
it must be one of: count
, distinct_count
, estimate_batch_distinct_count
, sum
, average
.numbers
it must be: add
.--ee
Indicates if the metric is for EE.rails generate gitlab:usage_metric CountIssues --type database --operation distinct_count
create lib/gitlab/usage/metrics/instrumentations/count_issues_metric.rb
create spec/lib/gitlab/usage/metrics/instrumentations/count_issues_metric_spec.rb
After implementation, you should run service ping locally to verify that the metric is included and functioning as expected.
Migrate Service Ping metrics to instrumentation classesThis guide describes how to migrate a Service Ping metric from lib/gitlab/usage_data.rb
or ee/lib/ee/gitlab/usage_data.rb
to instrumentation classes.
Determine the location of instrumentation class: either under ee
or outside ee
.
Fill the instrumentation class body:
usage_data.rb
.spec/lib/gitlab/usage/metrics/instrumentations/
.Remove the code from lib/gitlab/usage_data.rb
or ee/lib/ee/gitlab/usage_data.rb
.
Remove the tests from spec/lib/gitlab/usage_data.rb
or ee/spec/lib/ee/gitlab/usage_data.rb
.
Sometimes metrics fail for reasons that are not immediately clear. The failures can be related to performance issues or other problems. The following pairing session video gives you an example of an investigation in to a real-world failing metric.
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