We all know what Continuous Integration (CI) is, right? It is the first step in our journey. In simple words, CI is a software engineering practice where each check-in made by a developer is verified by either of the following:
Pull mechanism: Executing an automated build at a scheduled time
Push mechanism: Executing an automated build when changes are saved in the repository This step is followed by executing a unit test against the latest changes available in the source code repository. Learn more from Java Online Training
Jenkins doesn’t need the introduction; it is an open source and one the most popular CI tools available in the market. It helps in automating the repetitive task of CI. Jenkins makes the process effective and transparent.
The next question you may ask is what makes Jenkins so popular. I already gave you one reason – can you recollect? Yes, because it is open source. Open source tools come with predefined notions, but the Jenkins community is different, and Jenkins as a tool is quite different.
So, what are the other reasons for the popularity of Jenkins?
Let’s have a look:
It is written in Java
It provides extensibility with over 400 plugins for different integrations, such as the following:
- Source code management
- Build triggers
- Build reports
- Artifact uploaders
- External site/tool integrations
- UI plugins
- Authentication and user management
- Cluster management and distributed build
- It supports Java, .NET, Ruby, Groovy, Grails, PHP, Android, and iOS applications
- It is easy to use: It has a simple learning curve The user interface was already simple, and it has now improved after Jenkins 2 has been made available to the general public Easy installation Easy configuration.
Installing Jenkins:
Jenkins provides us with multiple ways to install it for all types of users. We can install it on at least the following operating systems:
- Ubuntu/Debian
- Windows
- Mac OS X
- OpenBSD
- FreeBSD
- openSUSE
- Gentoo
- CentOS/Fedora/Red Hat
One of the easiest options I recommend is to use a WAR file. A WAR file can be used with or without a container or web application server. Having Java is a must before we try to use a WAR file for Jenkins, which can be done as follows:
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- Download the jenkins.war file from https://jenkins.io/.
- Open command prompt in Windows or a terminal in Linux, go to the directory where the jenkins.war file is stored, and execute the following command: java – jar jenkins.war
- Once Jenkins is fully up and running, as shown in the following screenshot, explore it in the web browser by visiting http://localhost:8080.:
- By default, Jenkins works on port 8080. Execute the following command from the command-line: java -jar jenkins.war –httpPort=9999
- For HTTPS, use the following command: java -jar jenkins.war –httpsPort=8888
- Once Jenkins is running, visit the Jenkins home directory. In our case, we have installed Jenkins 2 on a CentOS 6.7 virtual machine.
- Go to /home//.jenkins, as shown in the following screenshot. If you can’t see the .jenkins directory, make sure hidden files are visible. In CentOS, press Ctrl + H to make hidden files visible:
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