Usage Data Collector

The CrateDB Usage Data Collector (UDC) is a sub-system that gathers usage data, reporting it to the UDC server at https://udc.crate.io. It is easy to disable, and does not collect any data that is confidential. For more information about what is being sent, see below.

CrateDB uses this information as a form of automatic, effortless feedback from the community. We want to verify that we are doing the right thing by matching download statistics with usage statistics. After each release, we can see if there is a larger retention span of the server software.

The data collected is clearly stated here. If any future versions of this system collect additional data, we will clearly announce those changes.

CrateDB is concerned about your privacy. We do not disclose any personally identifiable information.

Table of contents

Technical information

To gather good statistics about CrateDB usage, UDC collects this information:

Name

Description

Kernel Version

The build number, and if there are any modifications to the kernel.

Cluster Id

A randomized globally unique ID created every time the whole cluster is restarted.

Master

Boolean whether the current node is master.

Ping Count

UDC holds an internal counter per node which is incremented for every ping, and reset on every restart of the a node.

CrateDB Version

The CrateDB version.

Java Version

The Java version CrateDB is currently running with.

Hardware Address

MAC address to uniquely identify instances behind firewalls.

Processor count

Number of available CPUs as reported by Runtime.availableProcessors

Enterprise

Identifies whether the Enterprise Edition is used.

After startup, UDC waits for 10 minutes before sending the first ping. It does this for two reasons; first, we don’t want the startup to be slower because of UDC, and secondly, we want to keep pings from automatic tests to a minimum. By default, UDC is sending pings every 24 hours. The ping to the UDC servers is done with a HTTP GET.

Admin UI tracking

Since Admin UI v0.16.0 we are tracking the user ID along with the cluster ID to know how many active users are currently using CrateDB.

Configuration

The Usage Data Collector can be configured by adapting the crate.yml configuration file or adding a system property setting. Refer to Usage data collector to see how these settings can be accessed and how they are configured.

How to disable UDC

Below are two ways you can disable UDC. However we hope you support us offering the open source edition, and leave UDC on, so we learn how many people use CrateDB.

Note

If UDC is disabled on the CrateDB server the Intercom service is deactivated.

By configuration

Just add following to your crate.yml configuration file:

  1. udc.enabled:  false

By system property

If you do not want to make any change to the jars or to the configuration, a system property setting like this will also make sure that UDC is never activated:

  1. -Cudc.enabled=false