Customer Console

Using the customer console for internal requests is only for special cases where the existing tools won’t allow us to complete the task at hand.

Overview

This workflow is for frequently used functions that are pre-loaded via the Customers Console and Functions project.

Using the customer console for internal requests is only for special cases in which the existing tools won’t allow us to complete the task at hand.

Console access is through Teleport, and requires membership in the relevant Okta groups documented on the CustomersDot project. You can file an access Request to gain membership.

Refer to the CustomersDot documentation page about Teleport for a full overview of installing and using Teleport to access the production or staging rails console.

Production

All requests to production require approval of the SRE(s) on shift, and you can view your request(s) in #infrastructure-lounge in slack.

Note The production system will automatically invoke the support console wrapper script upon login

  1. You will initiate the request via Teleport using tsh login.
    • Your command shell will hang until approval is given, but you can close the terminal or kill the process at any time, and then resume it using the --request-id option:
      • e.g. tsh login --request-id=xxx ...
    • The ID is shown in your shell, and is also available in #infrastructure-lounge or the slack DM from Teleport-app
  2. Afer the request is approved, you will then use Teleport to SSH into the system with tsh ssh
  3. Requests generally remain approved for 8-12 hours. You can resume that session anytime, again using --request-id

Staging

  • No approval is necessary for staging, and access is granted immediately
  • Accessing is the same as it is for production, except your tsh login will be approved immediately, and you can move on to tsh ssh
  • The wrapper script is not invoked upon login

Scope

The console will be for tasks which cannot be completed from the tools we have available.

We need to see the console as a transition stage:

graph TD
  A[Console Tasks] --> B(Automate within GitLab)
  B --> C(Integrate into the product)

The more we use a function the more we should ask ourselves why we haven’t automated that process or integrated that missing function into our product.

Search methods

view_namespace

Note: This functionality is mostly covered by namespace search in UI.

Provides a unified view for the namespace including orders and customer account linked to the orders.

Function to see namespace information and linked orders/customer profile. The function will find orders linked to the provided namespace and then customer profile linked to the orders:

graph TD
  C[Namespace] --> B(Order)
  B[Order] --> A(Customer)

Parameters

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to find information about

Sample

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irb(main):002:0> view_namespace('example')

[+]Namespace information
id                                7744884
name                              example
path                              example
members_count_with_descendants    15
shared_runners_minutes_limit      50000
billable_members_count            14
plan                              gold
trial_ends_on                     2020-06-22
trial                             true

[+] There are 1 orders for this namespace
 id                                00000
 customer_id                       111111
 subscription_id
 subscription_name
 start_date                        2020-04-22
 end_date                          2020-06-22
 gl_namespace_id                   2222222
 gl_namespace_name                 example

[+] Customer linked to orders
 https://customers.gitlab.com/admin/customer/111111
 id                                111111
 company                           example Ltd
 first_name                        Jane
 last_name                         Doe
 email                             jdoe@examplecorp.net
 uid                               666666
 zuora_account_id

Manual Lookup

Note: Customer name, email, company, group name, subscription name searching is available in UI.

If required, you can search for an order based on any existing order attribute. Use find_by if you believe there is only one, or where if you believe there may be multiple matching orders.

Example find_by

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irb(main):003:0> Order.find_by_gl_namespace_name "example"
#<Order:0x0000000000000
 id: 0000,
 customer_id: 00000,
 product_rate_plan_id: "2c92a00d76f0d5060176f2fb0a5029ff",
 subscription_id: nil,
 subscription_name: nil,
 start_date: Fri, 31 Aug 2019,
 end_date: Mon, 31 Aug 2020,
 quantity: 1,
 created_at: Mon, 20 May 2019 08:59:04 UTC +00:00,
 updated_at: Mon, 27 Jul 2020 14:16:12 UTC +00:00,
 gl_namespace_id: "0000000",
 gl_namespace_name: "example",
 amendment_type: nil,
 trial: true,
 last_extra_ci_minutes_sync_at: nil,
 zuora_account_id: nil,
 increased_billing_rate_notified_at: nil,
 reconciliation_accepted: false,
 billing_rate_adjusted_at: nil,
 billing_rate_last_action: nil>

Example where

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irb(main):005:0> pp Order.where(customer_id: 000000)
[#<Order:0x000000000bfd8990
  id: 00000,
  customer_id: 000000,
  product_rate_plan_id: "2c92a0ff76f0d5250176f2f8c86f305a",
  subscription_id: nil,
  subscription_name: nil,
  start_date: Tue, 12 Jun 2020,
  end_date: Mon, 12 Jun 2021,
  quantity: 1,
  created_at: Tue, 16 Jun 2020 14:37:24 UTC +00:00,
  updated_at: Wed, 19 Aug 2020 23:56:49 UTC +00:00,
  gl_namespace_id: "000000",
  gl_namespace_name: "example",
  amendment_type: nil,
  trial: true,
  last_extra_ci_minutes_sync_at: nil,
  zuora_account_id: nil,
  increased_billing_rate_notified_at: nil,
  reconciliation_accepted: false,
  billing_rate_adjusted_at: nil,
  billing_rate_last_action: nil>]

Order history

Note: Having a way to view this in the UI has been requested in customer #3081.

You can view the change history of an order using versions.

Example

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irb(main):005:0> pp Order.find(943369).versions
[#<PaperTrail::Version:0x00000000023248d8
  id: 943369,
  item_type: "Order",
  item_id: 159764,
  event: "create",
  whodunnit: nil,
  object: nil,
  created_at: Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:19:21.297520000 UTC +00:00,
  transaction_id: 943369,
  object_changes:
   "---\n" +
   "id:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 159764\n" +
   "customer_id:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 34580\n" +
   "product_rate_plan_id:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 2c92a0ff76f0d5250176f2f8c86f305a\n" +
   "start_date:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 2021-04-07\n" +
   "end_date:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 2021-05-07\n" +
   "quantity:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- 1\n" +
   "created_at:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- !ruby/object:ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone\n" +
   "  utc: &1 2021-04-07 00:19:21.297520292 Z\n" +
   "  zone: &2 !ruby/object:ActiveSupport::TimeZone\n" +
   "    name: Etc/UTC\n" +
   "  time: 2021-04-07 00:19:21.297520292 Z\n" +
   "updated_at:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- !ruby/object:ActiveSupport::TimeWithZone\n" +
   "  utc: *1\n" +
   "  zone: *2\n" +
   "  time: 2021-04-07 00:19:21.297520292 Z\n" +
   "gl_namespace_id:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- '8981798'\n" +
   "gl_namespace_name:\n" +
   "- \n" +
   "- to keep\n" +
   "trial:\n" +
   "- false\n" +
   "- true\n">]

find_namespace

Note: Finding an account based on group name is available in the UI. However, accounts with trials typically do not show up due to customers #978.

Find a given GitLab.com namespace.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to search for, it can be complete or partial

Sample

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irb(main):421:0> find_namespace('test')
[!] Possible matches:
 [+] Name Test Example         | Full Path test
 [+] Name Other Example        | Full Path test1
 [+] Name My Test              | Full Path test2
=> " "

Plan Methods

update_gitlab_plan

Note: This can be deprecated when this is available in the UI which will require showing expired trials (customers #1173), ability to extend (customers #1643), and for the GitLab account to be tied to customers portal to show GitLab Groups after a trial is initiated (customers #973).

Use cases for this function:

  1. Extend an active or reactivate an expired trial.
  2. Downgrade to free.
  3. “Extend” a subscription by creating a trial if one does not exist. If an old trial exists, it will reuse it.

The function will change the minutes quota to the paid plan equivalent, and add additional minutes to get around shared runner cc requirement.

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to update using the path
:plan Yes The plan to assign to the namespace (free, bronze, silver, gold)
:expire No Optional parameter, if entered the existing subscription will be extended up to this date
:subscription No Required to extend a subscription, but not for trials.

Sample

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irb(main):001:0> update_gitlab_plan('example','bronze','2020-10-22','A-S00000000')
{"plan"=>
  {"code"=>"bronze",
   "name"=>"Bronze",
   "trial"=>false,
   "auto_renew"=>nil,
   "upgradable"=>false},
 "usage"=>
  {"seats_in_subscription"=>0,
   "seats_in_use"=>1,
   "max_seats_used"=>1,
   "seats_owed"=>0},
 "billing"=>
  {"subscription_start_date"=>"2020-08-21",
   "subscription_end_date"=>"2020-10-22",
   "trial_ends_on"=>nil}}
{"id"=>0000000,
 "name"=>"Example",
 "path"=>"example",
 "kind"=>"group",
 "full_path"=>"example",
 "parent_id"=>nil,
 "avatar_url"=>nil,
 "web_url"=>"https://gitlab.com/groups/example",
 "members_count_with_descendants"=>1,
 "shared_runners_minutes_limit"=>2000,
 "extra_shared_runners_minutes_limit"=>nil,
 "additional_purchased_storage_size"=>0,
 "additional_purchased_storage_ends_on"=>nil,
 "billable_members_count"=>1,
 "plan"=>"bronze",
 "trial_ends_on"=>nil,
 "trial"=>false}

force_attr

If the order has the subscription number, but a number of nil values (especially product plan), then use this function to have the system look up the values in Zuora and copy them over.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:subscription_name Yes Subscription name in the order to update

Sample

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irb(main):021:0> force_attr("A-S00000000")
=> {:success=>true}

force_reassociation

Note: The ability to do this in the UI is customers #2165.

Force a .com group to be associated with a given subscription. This is typically done to associate a group without charging additional seats.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:subscription_name Yes The subscription name to be re-associated
:namespace_path Yes The unique GitLab namespace path

Sample

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irb(main):021:0> force_reassociation("A-S00000000", "example")
=> {:success=>true}

This function sets the group ID and name to nil to the order and downgrades the group to Free. This is typically done if there are issues associating a different subscription but the existing subscription should show for user.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:subscription_name Yes Subscription name in the order to update

Sample

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irb(main):021:0> unlink_sub("A-S00000000")
=> {:success=>true}

Note: Ability to do this in UI is customers #2166.

Completely unlink a GitLab.com account from a CustomersDot account. Note: Use the customer ID (from customers portal, not GitLab.com).

Warning: Unlinking means the .com groups will no longer show. This is typically only used when an admin accidentally links their account to a customers.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:customer_id Yes Customer ID to be unlinked from it’s GitLab account.

Sample

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irb(main):021:0> unlink_customer(0000000)
=> {:success=>true}

Identify multiple CustomersDot accounts linked to a GitLab account

Parameters

Name Required Details
:uid Yes GitLab.com UID which may have been linked to multiple cdot accounts

Sample

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*** PRODUCTION *** production> Customer.where(uid: 0000000)
=> [#<Customer 000000, first_name: "Jane", last_name: "Doe", created_at: "2021-12-21 16:29:53.324183000 +0000", updated_at: "2023-01-17 00:56:56.311661000 +0000", email: "jdoe@examplecorp.net", provider: "gitlab", uid: "0000000", country: "USA", state: "GA", city: "Columbus", zip_code: "12345", vat_code: nil, company: "ExampleCorp", salesforce_account_id: "000001230043203, skip_email_confirmation: false>,
#<Customer 100009, first_name: "Bob", last_name: "Doe", created_at: "2022-11-12", email: "bdoe@examplecorp.net", provider: "gitlab", uid: "0001235", country: "USA", state: "GA", city: "Columbus", zip_code: "12345", vat_code: nil, company: "ExampleCorp", salesforce_account_id: "00000123006988343, skip_email_confirmation: false>]

unlink_customer can be used to remove additional customers portal accounts identified as linked to the one uid.

associate_full_user_count_with_group

Note: Feature request is customers #2167.

When the subscription has multiple products listed, then the quantity (seats) is only pulled from the product plan line. Add-on seats are not automatically added. The function adds the seat count for all products listed for the subscription and copies it over to .com.

Parameters

This function requires a subscription name.

Name Required Details
:subscription_name Yes Subscription name as it appears in Zuora, e.g., A-S12345678

Sample

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irb(main):021:0> associate_full_user_count_with_group("A-S12345678")
=> {:success=>true}

enable_ci_minutes

This function allows removal of the CC validation only for sale supported trials to prevent having to enroll these users credit cards to use CI/CD by adding additional minutes.

Parameters

This function requires a namespace object

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes Namespace to update

Sample

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irb(main):003:0> enable_ci_minutes("mmoraphotocr")


=> "{\"status\":\"success\",\"message\":\"namespace members are now enabled to run CI minutes\"}"
irb(main):004:0>

create_order_from_zuora

On rare occasions, an Order object may not exist in customersDot for a subscription in Zuora. This function creates a valid Order from the subscription data found in Zuora which can then be linked to a namespace.

Use cases for this function:

  1. Entity changes
  2. System bugs

Parameters

Name Required Details
:customer_id Yes The ID number of a customersDot account linked to the billing account, e.g., the subscription must appear in their cDot account
:subscription_name Yes Subscription name as it appears in Zuora, e.g., A-S12345678

Sample

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irb(main):003:0> create_order_from_zuora(123456,'A-S12345678')

=> "{\"status\":\"success\",\"message\":{\"success\":true,\"order\" ....."

GitLab.com Group methods

These functions help fix various bug issues that have surfaced on GitLab.com. These functions do not change anything in the CustomersDot.

Reset max seats

Occasionally, to ensure the correct number at renewal, the number of max seats need to be changed for a group.

Parameters

With only the namespace, it will display the seats information. Entering the max seats will change the value.

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to update
:max_seats_used No Max number of seats to use

Sample

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irb(main):035:0> account_seats("gitlab-silver")
{"plan"=>
  {"code"=>"silver",
   "name"=>"Silver",
   "trial"=>false,
   "auto_renew"=>nil,
   "upgradable"=>false},
 "usage"=>
  {"seats_in_subscription"=>8,
   "seats_in_use"=>10,
   "max_seats_used"=>10,
   "seats_owed"=>2},
 "billing"=>
  {"subscription_start_date"=>"2020-01-01",
   "subscription_end_date"=>"2021-01-01",
   "trial_ends_on"=>nil}}
irb(main):089:0> account_seats("gitlab-silver",0)
{"plan"=>
  {"code"=>"silver",
   "name"=>"Silver",
   "trial"=>false,
   "auto_renew"=>nil,
   "upgradable"=>false},
 "usage"=>
  {"seats_in_subscription"=>8,
   "seats_in_use"=>10,
   "max_seats_used"=>10,
   "seats_owed"=>2},
 "billing"=>
  {"subscription_start_date"=>"2020-01-01",
   "subscription_end_date"=>"2021-01-01",
   "trial_ends_on"=>nil}}

[+] Resetting max_seats_used ...
{"plan"=>
  {"code"=>"silver",
   "name"=>"Silver",
   "trial"=>false,
   "auto_renew"=>nil,
   "upgradable"=>false},
 "usage"=>
  {"seats_in_subscription"=>8,
   "seats_in_use"=>10,
   "max_seats_used"=>0,
   "seats_owed"=>2},
 "billing"=>
  {"subscription_start_date"=>"2020-01-01",
   "subscription_end_date"=>"2021-01-01",
   "trial_ends_on"=>nil}}
***** seats_owed will be automatically recalculated at 12:00 UTC *****

update_group_mins

Note: Possible through GitLab.com admin.

Update a group’s shared runner minutes monthly quota.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:id Yes The namespace ID to update
:mins Yes Compute minutes to update

Sample

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irb(main):180:0>  update_group_mins(1234,50000)
=> {:success=>true}

update_extra_minutes

Note: Additional minutes can also be changed via chatops. Feature request for editing via UI in gitlab#325917.

Update a group’s additional runner minutes.

WARNING: Additional minutes added using this function will last indefinitely until used. If the request is to provide “extra minutes” during a trial period only, use the update_group_mins function to change the monthly usage quota, or the update_gitlab_plan function which will set the usage quota to match a paid plan.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to update
:mins Yes Compute minutes to update

Sample

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irb(main):180:0>  update_group_mins("gitlab-gold",50000)
=> {:success=>true}

update_extra_storage

Note: Additional storage can also be changed via API. Feature request for editing via UI in gitlab#325918.

Update a group’s additional storage.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:namespace Yes The namespace to update
:extra_storage Yes Amount of additional storage in MiB

Sample

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irb(main):180:0>  update_extra_storage("gitlab-gold",5000)
{"id"=>12345678,
 "name"=>"GitLab.com - Gold",
 "path"=>"gitlab-gold",
 "kind"=>"group",
 "full_path"=>"gitlab-gold",
 "parent_id"=>nil,
 "avatar_url"=>"/uploads/-/system/group/avatar/123456/gitlab-icon-rgb.png",
 "web_url"=>"https://gitlab.com/groups/gitlab-gold",
 "members_count_with_descendants"=>105,
 "shared_runners_minutes_limit"=>50000,
 "extra_shared_runners_minutes_limit"=>nil,
 "additional_purchased_storage_size"=>5000,
 "additional_purchased_storage_ends_on"=>"2022-03-02",
 "billable_members_count"=>105,
 "seats_in_use"=>105,
 "max_seats_used"=>103,
 "plan"=>"gold",
 "trial_ends_on"=>nil,
 "trial"=>false}
=> nil

container_registry_storage_usage

Note: For a large group, this may take several hours. If unsure, ask for help before running it.

Calculates the storage usage of the container registry for each project in a given group, the output is the total result in GB and detailed per project.

Parameters

Name Required Details
:group Yes The group to query

Sample

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irb(main):749:0>  container_registry_storage_usage('some-group') ; nil
[*] Total Storage Used [ 0.799 GB ]

{"my-project-bash"=>
  {"project_id"=>00000000,
   "project_path"=>"example/for-output/my-project-bash",
   "container_registry_storage_used"=>"0.764 GB"},
 "my-other-project"=>
  {"project_id"=>00010000,
   "project_path"=>"example/for-output/my-other-project",
   "container_registry_storage_used"=>"0.025 GB"}}
=>

FAQ

  1. How can I add a function?
  1. Can I use other code not available in support_team.rb?
  • Functions and parts of functions from support_team.rb can be executed within console as needed. Otherwise, the only time other code should be run is under direction from the Fulfillment development team to help debug or workaround an issue.

Manually changing attributes

We should avoid the editing of live data as much as possible, even a small change could cause a problem later and affect the customer in a bigger way than the original reason for us to do the change. The guidance is to only use the functions in support_team.rb. If we don’t have anything that helps, then a feature request should be opened and prioritized. Within the feature request, we can ask for a temporary workaround to the dev team in order for us to be able to act on those requests while the official product enhancement is completed.

Last modified February 28, 2024: LnR: Update workflows on accessing customer console (2b21cb32)
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