## Overview We are coordinating an early adopter program to facilitate the adoption of the Runner Fleet Dashboard starting with customers using GitLab Self-Managed. ## Background - As of the GitLab 16.5 release the Runner Fleet Dashboard has been enabled on GitLab.com for internal dog-fooding. - As of 2023-10-31, the Runner Fleet Dashboard is only available at the Admin Area > Runners view. So the target customer type for the early adoption program = GitLab Self-Managed + Ultimate plan customers only. - The Runner Fleet Dashboard includes a 'wait time to pick up job\` or runner CI/CD job queue performance metric widget. A new database architecture that uses the [Clickhouse open-source database engine](https://clickhouse.com/) was required to create this metric and support the future vision for GitLab CI/CD & Runner observability. - The Clickhouse database is used for metrics and analytics and therefore enables us to build new observability and predictive analytics solutions without impacting the performance of the transactional ci_builds tables. This architecture is covered in the [CI Builds and Runner Fleet metrics database architecture blueprint](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/architecture/blueprints/ci_builds_runner_fleet_metrics/) - As of 2023-10-20, the Clickhouse DB is **not** included in the [GitLab installation packages](https://docs.gitlab.com/omnibus/). Therefore, customers will need to install the required database components to realize the total value of the Runner Fleet Dashboard MVC in the Admin Area view. **Note** The current metric in the Fleet Dashboard that requires Clickhouse is the Wait time to pick up a job chart. The other widgets in the current version of the Fleet Dashbaord do not use Clickhouse and so these will render fine if you do not setup Clickhouse. ## Objectives of the early adopter program and BETA * [ ] Enable the Runner Fleet Dashboard for at minimum 5 self-managed Ultimate plan customers. * [ ] Track adoption of the dashboard and efficacy as the single source of truth for proactively identifying and solving issues in a Runner Fleet. * [ ] Track any issues related to operationg Clickhouse and synching CI builds data from the transactiaonal to the reporting datbase tables. * [ ] Gather real world feedback to inform the future evolution of Runner Fleet and CI visibility. * [ ] Identify customers willing to participate in case studies, webinars etc describing the value proposition of the solution. As of 2023-10-31 we are not including GitLab Dedicated customers in the early-adopter program ## Onboarding process <details><summary>Click to expand</summary> The Fleet Dashboard will be available to all Ultimate plan customers starting in the 16.6 release. While customers can on their own enable the feature and install the required components, its recommended that customers engage with the Runner Fleet team so that we can work closely with them during the setup process and to also establish mechanisms for providing feedback. GitLab Customer Success Managers: to formally add a customer to the early adopter then follow these steps. - [ ] Create a confidential issue in the [Runner Fleet Dashboard - Early Customer Onboarding Tracking](https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-org/-/epics/11794) and include the following - Customer name: - Current GitLab version: - Primary Contact: - Estimated number of Shared Runners: - Estimated number of CI jobs per month on Shared Runners: </details> ## Getting Started with Runner Fleet Dashboard: <details><summary>Click to expand</summary> 1. Upgrade to GitLab version 16.6 2. [Install Clickhouse](https://clickhouse.com/docs/en/install) or setup an account on [Clickhouse Cloud](https://clickhouse.com/docs/en/cloud/overview) 3. Create the database and schema. 4. Run data migration script. </details> ## Roadmap to GA <details><summary>Click to expand</summary> | Milestone | Month |Activity| | ------ | ------ |------ | |16.6 |Nov 2023| Start early adopter program.| |16.7 |Dec 2023| Month 1 of early adopter testing.| |16.8 |Jan 2024| Month 2 of early adopter testing. Add compute costs MVC to Fleet Dashboard| |16.9| Feb 2024| Month 3 of early adopter testing.|   |16.10| Mar 2024| Month 4 of early adopter testing.|   |16.11| Apr 2024| Month 5 of early adopter testing.|   |17.0| May 2024| Transition to GA|   </details> ## Feedback - You can add any feedback or questions to this [issue](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/421737) during this early adopter and BETA phase. - We will aim to respond within one business day to comments raised on the feedback issue. ## Screen shot of the Runner Fleet Dashboard on GitLab.com <details><summary>Click to expand</summary>  </details>