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Update security and monthly templates

Mayra Cabrera requested to merge update-security-release-and-monthly-template into master

What does this MR do and why?

Update security and monthly templates

  • Rephrases the step that requires coordination between current and upcoming release managers to set a due date for the upcoming security release
  • Fixes some typos in the security template
  • Adds a step on the monthly template to make sure the security due date is feasible
Monthly release template

Release 15.9

First steps

  • Change #f_upcoming_release topic with /topic 15.9.0: <link_to_this_issue>
  • Check whether the auto-deploy branch schedule fits the Release Managers' working hours. Adjust if needed and make sure any changes are updated in the handbook.
  • Consider planned PCLs and modify the dates below to accurately reflect the plan of action.
  • If there is a Family & Friends day this month, add notes for pausing deployments before the day starts, and unpausing them before the next business day. See the documentation.
  • Update this issue with three planned dates for recurring Staging rollback practice. Consider spreading these across timezones to share the knowledge.
    • Set Due Date for this Issue to the first practice session
  • Check for any deprecations and see if we are possibly affected in our k8s or chef config. with removal: '15.9' that might affect our configuration - otherwise the next auto-deploy after a monthly release might fail with a deprecation failure
  • Confirm the due date set in the upcoming security release is achievable.

First Staging Rollback Practice

Date to be Completed:

Second Staging Rollback Practice

Date to be Completed:

Third Staging Rollback Practice

Date to be Completed:

Up until the 17th

  • Ensure any deploys that do not make it to canary are investigated. Disable canary if necessary.
  • Push any successful deploy to canary into production after some time has passed (preferably 1h).
  • Should any deployment blockers prevent automatic promotions to production, this requires approval by the SRE On-Call.
    1. Ask for permission to promote the release in #production - provide the necessary context to the Engineer
    2. If permission is granted, utilize the following command to initiate an overridden promotion:
    /chatops run deploy <VERSION> gprd --ignore-production-checks 'deployment approved by on call SRE'
    1. This will post a comment into this issue and begin the deployment
    2. Ask the SRE On-Call to respond to the comment with their approval for auditing purposes

17th

If this date is on a weekend, do this work on the next working day

  • Find the latest sha that made it into production successfully: sha
  • Make sure to execute the post-deploy migration pipeline to ensure that all post-deploy migrations have been executed: /chatops run post_deploy_migrations execute.
  • Notify Engineering Managers and developers that this is the sha that is guaranteed to be released on the 22nd: 
    /chatops run notify ":mega: This is the most recent commit running on GitLab.com and this is guaranteed to be released on the 22nd.
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security/gitlab/commits/<SHA>.
You can check if an MR made the cut by using the following ChatOps command: `/chatops run release check [MR_URL] 15.9`
Please see the following documentation on what this means:
  * `https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/releases/#how-can-i-determine-if-my-merge-request-will-make-it-into-the-monthly-release`
  * `https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/releases/#when-do-i-need-to-have-my-mr-merged-in-order-for-it-to-be-included-into-the-monthly-release`
  * Documentation about `release check` chatops command: `https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/docs/-/blob/master/general/deploy/auto-deploy.md#status-of-a-merged-mr-with-respect-to-monthly-releases`"

18th

If this date is on a weekend, do this work on the last Friday before the 18th.

  • Log latest auto-deploy branch: BRANCH_NAME
  • Ensure this build makes it through into production
  • Make sure to execute the post-deploy migration pipeline to ensure that all post-deploy migrations have been executed: /chatops run post_deploy_migrations execute.
  • Grab the sha from this new auto-deploy branch and notify Engineering Managers and developers that this is the candidate sha for the release: 
    /chatops run notify ":mega: This is the _candidate_ commit to be released on the 22nd.
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security/gitlab/commits/<SHA>
You can check if an MR made the cut by using the following ChatOps command: `/chatops run release check [MR_URL] 15.9`
Further deployments may result in the final commit being different from the candidate. Please see the following documentation on what this means:
  * `https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/releases/#how-can-i-determine-if-my-merge-request-will-make-it-into-the-monthly-release`
  * `https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/releases/#when-do-i-need-to-have-my-mr-merged-in-order-for-it-to-be-included-into-the-monthly-release`
  * Documentation about `release check` chatops command: `https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/docs/-/blob/master/general/deploy/auto-deploy.md#status-of-a-merged-mr-with-respect-to-monthly-releases`"

20th: two working days before the release

If this date is on a Sunday, do this work on the last Friday before the 20th. If it falls on a Friday or Saturday, move it to Thursday.

  • Determine what is the last auto deploy branch to have deployed to production and add it here: BRANCH

  • If you plan to use the latest commit deployed to production to create the RC, make sure to execute the post-deploy migration pipeline to ensure that all post-deploy migrations have been executed: /chatops run post_deploy_migrations execute.

  • Create a RC version to ensure that the final version builds correctly

    # In Slack:
/chatops run release tag 15.9.0-rc42

This will use the latest commit deployed to production for the various components that we release. If a different commit is necessary for a component, such as GitLab, you should run the following instead:

/chatops run release tag 15.9.0-rc42 --gitlab-sha=XXX

This will then use XXX as the SHA to create the GitLab stable branches.

NOTE: this SHA is only used if the stable branch has yet to be created. If it already exists, the branch is left as-is.

  • Verify that the CE stable branch contains the right commits

    • There should be at least two commits: the last commit from the previous stable branch (usually a version update), and the sync commit created by the merge train.
    • The sync commit will have the message "Add latest changes from gitlab-org/gitlab@15-9-stable-ee"

  • Verify that the pipelines are green

    # In Slack:
/chatops run release status 15.9.0-rc42

  • Notify Engineering Managers and developers that final candidate has been created:

    /chatops run notify ":mega: The stable branch has been created and the release candidate is tagged. Barring any show-stopping issues, this is the final commit to be released on the 22nd.
https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security/gitlab/-/commits/15-9-stable-ee
You can check if an MR made the cut by using the following ChatOps command: `/chatops run release check [MR_URL] 15.9`
  * Documentation about `release check` chatops command: `https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/release/docs/-/blob/master/general/deploy/auto-deploy.md#status-of-a-merged-mr-with-respect-to-monthly-releases`"

  • Verify that the RC has been deployed to the pre environment

    • Deployment to pre will start automatically. It can take 2 hours to start once the RC is tagged. A notification will be sent to the #announcements channel in Slack when it starts.
    • If required to deploy manually, follow the steps in pre-and-release-environments.md#manual-deployments.

21st: one day before the release

If this date is on a weekend, do this work on the Friday before that weekend.

Instructions for manual deploy 
    ```sh
    # In Slack:
    /chatops run deploy 15.9.0-ee.0 release
    ```
  • Validate 15.9.0 has been passed automated QA by ensuring the release-gitlab-qa-smoke job from the release deploy pipeline is green.

Past this point, no new code can be added to the release that was not included in the final RC.

22nd: release day

Final release is tagged, so any changes will have to initiate a patch release. Reminder: We have a soft PCL today, coordinate with the EOC before deploying to production. Consider not running the post-deploy migration pipeline to keep rollback options available.

  • At 13:00 UTC, post an update about the package building status in #f_upcoming_release 
    :mega: Packages for 15.9.0 are built and will be published at 13:10UTC
  • At 13:10 UTC:
    • ⚠ Make sure that neither packages nor the blog post get published earlier than 13:10UTC without approval by the messaging lead of the release post. Mind that you don't need their approval if you're on time ⚠
    • Publish the packages via ChatOps: 
      # In Slack:
/chatops run publish 15.9.0
    • If anything goes wrong and the release is delayed, ping the release post manager on Slack to make them aware of the issue. Cross-post the slack message to the #marketing channel to notify them too
  • At 14:10 UTC:
    • Verify the check-packages job completes successfully on the EE Pipeline
    • Verify the check-packages job completes successfully on the CE Pipeline
    • Verify that Docker images appear on hub.docker.com: EE / CE
    • Post an update about the status in #f_upcoming_release 
    :mega: 15.9.0 is published and publicly available
    • Once all packages are available publicly and GitLab.com is up and running on the release version, ping the release post manager on Slack (#release-post channel) to give them a go to merge the release post at ~14:20 UTC, so that it will be live at 15:00 UTC
    • Create the 15.9.0 version on version.gitlab.com

Release Certification

The release certification process may apply to this release. cc @gitlab-com/gl-security/federal-application-security

Security release example

Security patch release: 15.7.3, 15.6.5, 15.5.8

First steps

  • Set the Due date on this issue with the planned Security publish date
  • Disable Omnibus nightly builds by setting the schedules to inactive: https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/omnibus-gitlab/pipeline_schedules. This prevents us accidentally revealing vulnerabilities before the release.
  • Post a message on the #quality Slack channel to notify the Quality team that a security release is in progress:

Hello team, the security release has started (<link_to_this_issue>) and Omnibus nightly builds are now disabled. The GitLab ChatOps bot will post a notification to this channel when the security release is complete.

  • Ensure that Canonical, Security and Build repositories are synced: 
    # In Slack
/chatops run mirror status
  • Post a comment on https://gitlab.com/gitlab-jh/gitlab-jh-enablement/-/issues/112 to notify JiHU of the upcoming security release
  • Post a message on the #g_runner Slack channel to notify the Runner team that a security release is in progress and that it will be published on the due date. This is to synchronize the GitLab and the GitLab runner security release in case there is one planned.
  • Modify the dates below to accurately reflect the plan of action.

Early-merge phase

Up until the 27th, or one day before the Security Release due date

  • Merge the merge requests targeting default branches

    # In Slack
/chatops run release merge --security --default-branch

  • Verify if a Gitaly security fix is included in the upcoming security release, if it is, follow the How to deal with Gitaly security fixes guide.

On the 27th (one day before due date)

If this date is on a weekend, do this work on the next working day.

  • Determine the security release manager from the schedule. Look for the security release manager of the latest released monthly version

  • Post the following message to #sec-appsec in Slack: <security-release-manager> We are starting the [security release](<link to this issue>), aiming for release tomorrow. Please create a blog post MR on gitlab-org/security/www-gitlab-com.

  • Once the blog post MR has been created by the security release manager, add a link to it here: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/security/www-gitlab-com/-/merge_requests/

  • Merge security merge requests targeting default branches

    # In Slack:
/chatops run release merge --security --default-branch

  • Check that all MRs merged into the default branch have been deployed to production:

    # In Slack:
/chatops run auto_deploy security_status

    NOTE: This only checks gitlab-org/security/gitlab. If other projects have security MRs you should verify those manually.

  • Make sure to execute the post-deploy migration pipeline to ensure that all post-deploy migrations have been executed: /chatops run post_deploy_migrations execute

  • Unlink any security issues that are not ready from the security release tracking issue (in gitlab-org/gitlab), and post a comment listing the issues that have been removed, why they have been removed (the reason returned by the run release merge command), and ping the authors. Make sure to complete this step before merging backporta to avoid picking up unexpected changes

  • Merge backports and any other merge request pending:

    # In Slack:
/chatops run release merge --security

  • Ensure all Merge Requets associated with Implementation Issues with label reduced backports are merged

  • If any merge requests could not be merged, investigate what needs to be done to resolve the issues. Do not proceed unless it has been determined safe to do so.

  • Ensure tests are green in CE and green in EE

    # In Slack:
/chatops run release status --security

  • If all the security issues have been deployed to production, consider tagging.

On the Due Date

Packaging

  • Ensure tests are green in CE and green in EE 
    # In Slack:
/chatops run release status --security

For the next task: Waiting between pipelines is necessary as they may otherwise fail to concurrently push changes to the same project/branch.

  • Tag the 15.7.3 security release, and wait for the pipeline to finish: /chatops run release tag --security 15.7.3

  • Tag the 15.6.5 security release, and wait for the pipeline to finish: /chatops run release tag --security 15.6.5

  • Tag the 15.5.8 security release, and wait for the pipeline to finish: /chatops run release tag --security 15.5.8

  • Check that EE and CE packages are built:

Deploy

Release

  • Publish packages via ChatOps:

    /chatops run publish --security

  • Notify AppSec counterparts they can submit the blog post to https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com/

  • Verify that the check-packages job completes:

  • Verify that Docker images appear on hub.docker.com: EE / CE

  • Deploy the blog post

  • Create the versions:

Final steps

  • Sync default branches for GitLab, GitLab Foss, Omnibus GitLab and Gitaly, via ChatOps:

    # In Slack
/chatops run release sync_remotes --security

  • Verify all remotes are synced:

    # In Slack
/chatops run mirror status

    If conflicts are found, manual intervention will be needed to sync the repositories.

  • Close the security implementation issues

    # In Slack
/chatops run release close_issues --security

  • Notify engineers the security release is out (blog post link needs to be replaced with the actual link):

    /chatops run notify ":mega: GitLab Security Release: 15.7.3, 15.6.5, 15.5.8 has just been released: <blog post link>! Share this release blog post with your network to ensure broader visibility across our community."

  • Enable Omnibus nightly builds by setting the schedules to active https://dev.gitlab.org/gitlab/omnibus-gitlab/pipeline_schedules

  • In case it was disabled, enable the Gitaly update task.

  • Close the old security release tracking issue and create a new one:

    # In Slack
/chatops run release tracking_issue --security

  • Ping the next set of release managers on the upcoming security release issue and ask them to set the intended security release due date. Suggest a possible due date based on the current release activities.

  • Check all new tags have synced to Canonical

  • Link the new security release tracking issue on the topic of the #releases channel, next to Next Security Release.

Author Check-list

  • [-] Has documentation been updated?
Edited by Mayra Cabrera

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