Getting Started with RUM Deployment Tracking

Docs > RUM & Session Replay > Real User Monitoring & Session Replay Guides > Getting Started with RUM Deployment Tracking

Overview

As teams iterate quickly and deploy code, it can be difficult to find the exact change that caused a spike in errors or slower page load times. RUM Deployment Tracking enables you to identify when a recent deployment or release is causing performance issues within your application and help you identify the source of the problem.

Setup

You can use the version tag to monitor deployments and service behavior in support of your software deployment strategy. To get started with RUM Deployment tracking you must add RUM versions to your application.

Browser RUM

import { datadogRum } from '@datadog/browser-rum';

// Initialize Datadog Browser SDK
datadogRum.init({
  ...
  version: '1.0.0',
  ...
});

window.DD_RUM.onReady(function() {
    window.DD_RUM.init({
      ...
      version: '1.0.0',
      ...
    })
})

window.DD_RUM &&
    window.DD_RUM.init({
      ...
      version: '1.0.0',
      ...
    })

Mobile RUM

Android RUM

The version tag is captured automatically from the application’s manifest.

iOS RUM

The version tag is captured automatically from the application’s info.plist.

Analyze your deployment performance in RUM

Using version tags on the Application Overview page

An application configured with version tags has a Deployment Tracking section on the Application Overview page. The Deployment Tracking section shows all versions of the application and services that were active during the selected time interval.

This enables you to roll back release candidates as soon as you notice an issue so you can avoid negative user experiences. These out of the box graphs are aggregated across versions, making it easier to identify problems in your application before they turn into serious issues.

You will see:

P75 Loading Time by Version
Total User Sessions by Version
Error Rate by Version

In the table below these widgets, you will see:

The version names deployed for the application and its services over the timeframe.
Number of user session for that version
Average errors per view
P75 Loading Time
P75 for Core Web Vitals

These widgets can be exported to dashboards and monitors.

Browser Deployment Tracking in RUM Application Overview

Deployment Comparison

Click on any version row in the List of Versions* table to open a version comparison page, allowing you to compare two versions of the same service. By default, the selected version is compared to all previous versions. You can change the selection to compare any two versions within the past 30 days.

Similar to the graphs on the Application Overview page, the User Sessions, Core Web Vitals, and Errors graphs show an overview of a deployment rollout or spikes in error rates. On this page, the graphs highlight the selected versions for comparison and display all other versions in gray for additional context.

As you are monitoring your release, this helps you to compare the performance of code deployments against existing live code to verify that new code is performing properly, and that no new errors have surfaced in between versions.

The Issues tab lists differences in errors detected for each of the two versions, highlighting:

Error Count by Version
% of Views with Errors by Version
Error Tracking issues

Explore the RUM deployment tracking powerpacks

You can add deployment tracking for your RUM services to dashboards using the powerpacks menu on a dashboard and searching for the “Deployment Version Tracking” powerpack. You can then iterate and add any other widgets to your dashboards to help your teams release new features safely.

Using version tags on the Application Overview page

This enables you to quickly roll back release candidates as soon as you spot an issue so you can avoid negative user experiences. These out of the box graphs are aggregated across versions, making it easier to identify problems in your application before they turn into serious issues.

You will see:

Average Application Start Time by Version
Total User Sessions by Version
Error Rate by Version

In the table below these widgets, you will see:

The version names deployed for the application and its services over the timeframe.
Number of app launches for that version
Error Rate
Crash Rate
P90 Application Start Time

These widgets can be exported to dashboards and monitors.

Mobile Deployment Tracking in RUM Application Overview

Deployment comparison

Click on any version row in the List of Versions table to open a version comparison page, allowing you to compare two versions of the same service. By default, the selected version is compared to all previous versions. You can change the selection to compare any two versions within the past 30 days.

Similar to the graphs on the Application Overview page, the User Sessions, Mobile Vitals, and Errors graphs show an overview of a deployment rollout or spikes in error rates. On this page, the graphs highlight the selected versions for comparison and display all other versions in gray for additional context.

As you are monitoring your release, this makes it easy for you to compare the performance of code deployments against existing live code to verify that new code is performing properly and that no new errors have surfaced in between versions.