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# Service Ping Guide **(FREE SELF)**
> Introduced in GitLab Ultimate 11.2, more statistics.
This guide describes Service Ping's purpose and how it's implemented.
For more information about Product Intelligence, see:
- The main purpose of Service Ping is to build a better GitLab. Data about how GitLab is used is collected to better understand feature/stage adoption and usage, which helps us understand how GitLab is adding value and helps our team better understand the reasons why people use GitLab and with this knowledge we're able to make better product decisions.
- As a benefit of having Service Ping active, GitLab lets you analyze the users' activities over time of your GitLab installation.
- As a benefit of having Service Ping active, GitLab provides you with [DevOps Score](../../user/admin_area/analytics/dev_ops_report.md#devops-score), which gives you an overview of your entire instance's adoption of Concurrent DevOps from planning to monitoring.
- You get better, more proactive support. (assuming that our TAMs and support organization used the data to deliver more value)
- You get insight and advice into how to get the most value out of your investment in GitLab. Wouldn't you want to know that a number of features or values are not being adopted in your organization?
- You get a report that illustrates how you compare against other similar organizations (anonymized), with specific advice and recommendations on how to improve your DevOps processes.
- Service Ping is enabled by default. To disable it, see [Disable Service Ping](#disable-service-ping).
- When Service Ping is enabled, you have the option to participate in our [Registration Features Program](#registration-features-program) and receive free paid features.
In GitLab versions 14.1 and later, free self-managed users running [GitLab EE](../ee_features.md) can receive paid features by registering with GitLab and sending us activity data through [Service Ping](#what-is-service-ping). Features introduced here do not remove the feature from its paid tier. Users can continue to access the features in a paid tier without sharing usage data.
The following example shows a basic request/response flow between a GitLab instance, the Versions Application, the License Application, Salesforce, the GitLab S3 Bucket, the GitLab Snowflake Data Warehouse, and Sisense:
```mermaid
sequenceDiagram
participant GitLab Instance
participant Versions Application
participant Licenses Application
participant Salesforce
participant S3 Bucket
participant Snowflake DW
participant Sisense Dashboards
GitLab Instance->>Versions Application: Send Service Ping
loop Process usage data
Versions Application->>Versions Application: Parse usage data
Versions Application->>Versions Application: Write to database
Versions Application->>Versions Application: Update license ping time
end
loop Process data for Salesforce
Versions Application-xLicenses Application: Request Zuora subscription id
Licenses Application-xVersions Application: Zuora subscription id
Versions Application-xSalesforce: Request Zuora account id by Zuora subscription id
Salesforce-xVersions Application: Zuora account id
Versions Application-xSalesforce: Usage data for the Zuora account
1. The Service Ping [cron job](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/app/workers/gitlab_service_ping_worker.rb#L24) is set in Sidekiq to run weekly.
1. When the cron job runs, it calls [`Gitlab::UsageData.to_json`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/app/services/service_ping/submit_service.rb#L49).
1.`Gitlab::UsageData.to_json` [cascades down](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/usage_data.rb) to ~400+ other counter method calls.
1. The response of all methods calls are [merged together](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/lib/gitlab/usage_data.rb#L68) into a single JSON payload in `Gitlab::UsageData.to_json`.
1. The JSON payload is then [posted to the Versions application](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/app/services/service_ping/submit_service.rb#L20)
We also collect metrics specific to [Geo](../../administration/geo/index.md) secondary sites to send with Service Ping.
1. The [Geo secondary service ping cron job](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/ee/app/workers/geo/secondary_usage_data_cron_worker.rb) is set in Sidekiq to run weekly.
1. When the cron job runs, it calls [`SecondaryUsageData.update_metrics!`](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/ee/app/models/geo/secondary_usage_data.rb#L33). This collects the relevant metrics from Prometheus and stores the data in the Geo secondary tracking database for transmission to the primary site during a [Geo node status update](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/blob/master/ee/app/models/geo_node_status.rb#L105).
1. Geo node status data is sent with the JSON payload in the process described above. The following is an example of the payload where each object in the array represents a Geo node:
In GitLab 13.5, `pg_system_id` was added to send the [PostgreSQL system identifier](https://www.2ndquadrant.com/en/blog/support-for-postgresqls-system-identifier-in-barman/).
1. Request temporary [access](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/blob/master/docs/Teleport/Connect_to_Rails_Console_via_Teleport.md#how-to-use-teleport-to-connect-to-rails-console) to the required environment.
1. After your approval is issued, [access the Rails console](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/blob/master/docs/Teleport/Connect_to_Rails_Console_via_Teleport.md#access-approval).
1. Run `ServicePing::SubmitService.new.execute`.
#### Trigger Service Ping with a detached screen session
1. Follow [the steps](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/runbooks/-/blob/master/docs/Teleport/Connect_to_Rails_Console_via_Teleport.md#how-to-use-teleport-to-connect-to-rails-console) to request a new access to the required environment and connect to the Rails console
1. Check the last payload in `raw_usage_data` table: `RawUsageData.last.payload`
1. Check the when the payload was sent: `RawUsageData.last.sent_at`
