[Feature flag] Rollout of `webauthn_without_totp`

Summary

This issue is to rollout webauthn_withouth_totp on production: Frontend: Enable WebAuthn device registration w... (!111659 - merged)

This feature enables the possibility of register a WebAuthn device without the need to set up TOTP as 2FA.

Owners

Team: ~"group::authentication and authorization"
Most appropriate slack channel to reach out to: #g_manage_auth
Best individual to reach out to: @eduardosanz
PM: @adil.farrukh

Stakeholders

Expectations

What are we expecting to happen?

Users can enable WebAuthn devices (biometric hardware) as a second factor authentication without the need to register a one-time password authenticator first.

When is the feature viable?

What might happen if this goes wrong?

What can we monitor to detect problems with this?

We both log and create an Audit event in the case of a failed two factor attempt.

What can we check for monitoring production after rollouts?

Consider adding links to check for Sentry errors, Production logs for 5xx, 302s, etc.

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 webauthn_without_totp 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 webauthn_without_totp true
- If you're using group-actor, you must enable the feature on these entries:
  - /chatops run feature set --group=gitlab-org,gitlab-com webauthn_without_totp true
- If you're using user-actor, you must enable the feature on these entries:
  - /chatops run feature set --user=<your-username> webauthn_without_totp 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).

Global rollout on production

Incrementally roll out the feature.
- If the feature flag in code has an actor, perform actor-based rollout.
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp <rollout-percentage> --actors
- If the feature flag in code does NOT have an actor, perform time-based rollout (random rollout).
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp true 25 --random
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp true 50 --random
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp true 75 --random
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp true
- Enable the feature globally on production environment.
  - /chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp true
Leave a comment on the feature issue announcing that the feature has been globally enabled.
Wait for at least one day for the verification term.

(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:

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.

Rollback Steps

This feature can be disabled by running the following Chatops command:

/chatops run feature set webauthn_without_totp false

Edited Mar 13, 2023 by Eduardo Sanz García