1741252 - Document that Telemetry "deletion-request" ping volumes spike on release days

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Toolkit :: Telemetry, task, P1)

Description

[Chris H-C :chutten]

:relud points out that we get weird spikes in Telemetry "deletion-request" pings on release weeks. This is notable for having some peculiar characteristics:

1. Each ping is for its own client (almost exactly).
2. Each client has no other ping activity on the day the "deletion-request" ping was received that would have it show in clients_last_seen
3. These are mostly (peak 1.1M) from China with a runner-up (peak 143k) from Russia (query)
4. The spike for Fx93's release week is missing/bifurcated probably because of bug 1733953
5. The spike is pings from the previous version (so during Fx94's release week Nov 1-5 the pings are mostly from Fx93)
6. This spike is Telemetry-only. Glean's immune because it doesn't send a "deletion-request" ping if, on first init, it's init with upload disabled.

Things it probably isn't:

• A pent-up buffer of failed-to-be-sent "deletion-request" pings over the course of the release, only now being sent in a rush
  • TelemetrySend doesn't work that way and would retry the ping perpetually
  • The "deletion-request" pings are being received on the day they're sent (DATE(submission_timestamp) == creation_date)

Things it probably is:

• Automation or pseudo-automation

---

This bug serves to:

1. Be a place to collect the narrative and analysis of this issue
2. Track work for adding this information to Telemetry's "deletion-request" ping docs so that future data folks don't have to duplicate our findings.

Comment 1

[Daniel Thorn [:relud]]

(In reply to Chris H-C :chutten from comment #0)

2. Each client has no other ping activity on the day the "deletion-request" ping was received that would have it show in clients_last_seen

each client has no pings in the last 28 days, since clients_last_seen includes clients that have sent a main ping in the last 28 days.

6. This spike is Telemetry-only. Glean's immune because it doesn't send a "deletion-request" ping if, on first init, it's init with upload disabled.

There are also conditions where telemetry doesn't send a "deletion-request" ping. These clients are opting out before glean initializes but after the cut-off for telemetry skipping the ping.

Comment 2

[Chris H-C :chutten]

Attachment: Bug 1741252 - Document known 'deletion-request' spikes on release weeks r?relud!

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/139dcf8efdcd
Document known 'deletion-request' spikes on release weeks r=relud DONTBUILD

Comment 4

[Marian-Vasile Laza]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/139dcf8efdcd