gitlab-org--gitlab-foss/doc/development/service_ping/metrics_instrumentation.md

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Metrics instrumentation guide

This guide describes how to develop Service Ping metrics using metrics instrumentation.

Nomenclature

• Instrumentation class:

  • Inherits one of the metric classes: DatabaseMetric, RedisMetric, RedisHLLMetric or GenericMetric.
  • Implements the logic that calculates the value for a Service Ping metric.

• 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.

How it works

A metric definition has the instrumentation_class field, which can be set to a class.

The defined instrumentation class should have one of the existing metric classes: DatabaseMetric, RedisMetric, RedisHLLMetric, or GenericMetric.

Using the instrumentation classes ensures that metrics can fail safe individually, without breaking the entire process of Service Ping generation.

We have built a domain-specific language (DSL) to define the metrics instrumentation.

Database metrics

Example of a merge request that adds a database metric.

module Gitlab
  module Usage
    module Metrics
      module Instrumentations
        class CountBoardsMetric < DatabaseMetric
          operation :count

          relation { Board }
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

Redis metrics

Example of a merge request that adds a Redis metric.

Count unique values for source_code_pushes event.

Required options:

• event: the event name.
• counter_class: one of the counter classes from the Gitlab::UsageDataCounters namespace; it should implement read method or inherit it from BaseCounter.

time_frame: all
data_source: redis
instrumentation_class: 'RedisMetric'
options:
  event: pushes
  counter_class: SourceCodeCounter

Redis HyperLogLog metrics

Example of a merge request that adds a RedisHLL metric.

Count unique values for i_quickactions_approve event.

time_frame: 28d
data_source: redis_hll
instrumentation_class: 'RedisHLLMetric'
options:
  events:
    - i_quickactions_approve

Generic metrics

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

Support for instrumentation classes

There is support for:

• count, distinct_count, estimate_batch_distinct_count for database metrics.
• Redis metrics.
• Redis HLL metrics.
• Generic metrics, which are metrics based on settings or configurations.

There is no support for:

• add, sum, histogram for database metrics.

You can track the progress to support these.

Create a new metric instrumentation class

To create a stub instrumentation for a Service Ping metric, you can use a dedicated generator:

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.
• --operation Required for database type. It must be one of: count, distinct_count, estimate_batch_distinct_count.
• --ee Indicates if the metric is for EE.

rails generate gitlab:usage_metric CountIssues --type database
        create lib/gitlab/usage/metrics/instrumentations/count_issues_metric.rb
        create spec/lib/gitlab/usage/metrics/instrumentations/count_issues_metric_spec.rb