docs.gitlab.com Hugo launch

Production Change

Change Summary

The Technical Writing team is launching a new GitLab Docs website. A preview of this new site is currently running at https://new.docs.gitlab.com.

Launching the new site will require infrastructure help: we need to update Cloudflare configuration and DNS for the docs.gitlab.com domain.

We will need to coordinate this change synchronously with the Technical Writing team. @sarahgerman is DRI for this project. The TW team has a series of manual steps to do during our launch window before infrastructure points DNS at the new site.

We are aiming to launch the new site on Monday, Feb 17, starting at 00:00 UTC / 6pm Feb 16 US central / 11:00am Feb 17 Australian eastern TZ.

Change Details

1. Services Impacted - GitLab Docs website (docs-website in the service catalog)
2. Change Technician - @ayeung
3. Change Reviewer - @sarahgerman
4. Scheduled Date and Time (UTC in format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM) - 2025-02-17 00:00
5. Time tracking - 30 minutes
6. Downtime Component - n/a

Detailed steps for the change

Change Steps - steps to take to execute the change

Estimated Time to Complete (mins) - 30 minutes

Before launch (any time):

• Merge this MR to:
  • Enable Cloudflare CDN for docs.gitlab.com, pointing at the current GitLab Pages site (in gitlab-docs).
  • Set SSL/TLS mode to "Full" (not Strict) for docs.gitlab.com
  • Reduce the TTL of the docs.gitlab.com Pages verification DNS entry

At launch time:

• Set label changein-progress /label ~change::in-progress
• Remove the docs.gitlab.com domain name from the original GitLab Docs project: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/pages
• Add the docs.gitlab.com domain name to the new project: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/technical-writing/docs-gitlab-com/pages/domains/new
• Update the GitLab Pages domain verification TXT record for docs.gitlab.com to reflect the new value in the new project
  • Do this in the UI initially, then roll it into the MR for the following step
• Copy the redirects we have set at Cloudflare on the new.docs.gitlab.com domain over to docs.gitlab.com, and add a Cloudflare Pages rule to forward new.docs.gitlab.com/* to docs.gitlab.com/*
• Set label changecomplete /label ~change::complete

Rollback

Rollback steps - steps to be taken in the event of a need to rollback this change

Estimated Time to Complete (mins) - 15 minutes

• Remove page redirect rules on docs.gitlab.com
• Remove the docs.gitlab.com domain from the new project: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/technical-writing/docs-gitlab-com/pages
• Add the docs.gitlab.com domain back to the original: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-docs/pages/domains/new
• In Cloudflare, update the GitLab Pages domain verification TXT record to reflect the new value in the original project
• Remove page forwarding to docs.gitlab.com from new.docs.gitlab.com
• Set label changeaborted /label ~change::aborted

Monitoring

Key metrics to observe

• Metric: Metric Name
  • Location: Dashboard URL
  • What changes to this metric should prompt a rollback: Describe Changes

Change Reviewer checklist

C4 C3 C2 C1:

• Check if the following applies:
  • The scheduled day and time of execution of the change is appropriate.
  • The change plan is technically accurate.
  • The change plan includes estimated timing values based on previous testing.
  • The change plan includes a viable rollback plan.
  • The specified metrics/monitoring dashboards provide sufficient visibility for the change.

C2 C1:

• Check if the following applies:
  • The complexity of the plan is appropriate for the corresponding risk of the change. (i.e. the plan contains clear details).
  • The change plan includes success measures for all steps/milestones during the execution.
  • The change adequately minimizes risk within the environment/service.
  • The performance implications of executing the change are well-understood and documented.
  • The specified metrics/monitoring dashboards provide sufficient visibility for the change.
    • If not, is it possible (or necessary) to make changes to observability platforms for added visibility?
  • The change has a primary and secondary SRE with knowledge of the details available during the change window.
  • The change window has been agreed with Release Managers in advance of the change. If the change is planned for APAC hours, this issue has an agreed pre-change approval.
  • The labels blocks deployments and/or blocks feature-flags are applied as necessary.

Change Technician checklist

• Check if all items below are complete:
  • The change plan is technically accurate.
  • This Change Issue is linked to the appropriate Issue and/or Epic
  • Change has been tested in staging and results noted in a comment on this issue.
  • A dry-run has been conducted and results noted in a comment on this issue.
  • The change execution window respects the Production Change Lock periods.
  • For C1 and C2 change issues, the change event is added to the GitLab Production calendar.
  • For C1 and C2 change issues, the SRE on-call has been informed prior to change being rolled out. (In #production channel, mention @sre-oncall and this issue and await their acknowledgement.)
  • For C1 and C2 change issues, the SRE on-call provided approval with the eoc_approved label on the issue.
  • For C1 and C2 change issues, the Infrastructure Manager provided approval with the manager_approved label on the issue. Mention @gitlab-org/saas-platforms/inframanagers in this issue to request approval and provide visibility to all infrastructure managers.
  • Release managers have been informed prior to any C1, C2, or blocks deployments change being rolled out. (In #production channel, mention @release-managers and this issue and await their acknowledgment.)
  • There are currently no active incidents that are severity1 or severity2
  • If the change involves doing maintenance on a database host, an appropriate silence targeting the host(s) should be added for the duration of the change.