In the ever-evolving landscape of software development, Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Deployment (CD) have become integral practices for ensuring the efficiency, reliability, and rapid delivery of software projects. Jenkins, an open-source automation server, plays a pivotal role in making CI/CD pipelines a reality. In this tutorial, we will explore the process of setting up an EC2 instance, installing Jenkins, and creating a basic Jenkins pipeline.

Understanding Jenkins:

Jenkins is a leading automation server that facilitates the automation of building, testing, and deploying code changes. Its popularity stems from its robust feature set and flexibility. Here are some key reasons why Jenkins is widely embraced in the software development community:

1. Open Source and Extensible

2. Automation of Repetitive Tasks

3. Wide Range of PluginsDistributed Builds

Objective:

1. Setting Up Jenkins on EC2

2. Configuring Jenkins

3. Creating Your First Jenkins Pipeline

Create an EC2 instance

Connect to the Jenkins server using SSH protocol

ssh -i ~/Downloads/nod.pem ubuntu@52.91.204.14

To install Jenkins on our machine, we need to have java

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre

Whether Java is installed or not let's verify

Now, you can proceed with installing Jenkins

curl -fsSL https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian/jenkins.io-2023.key | sudo tee \
  /usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc > /dev/null
echo deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc] \
  https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian binary/ | sudo tee \
  /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install jenkins

Verify Jenkins

Our Jenkins is running actively at port 8080 but we have not configured any rule regarding port 8080 for our ec2 instance. Therefore, we will add port 8080 in the inbound rule of security groups.

Now access the Jenkins in the browser using ec2-public-ip:8080

To log in the Jenkins we need to get the password from /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword.

sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword

After hitting the above command, copy the password and enter it to log into Jenkins. After that click on Install the suggested plugins in Jenkins.

Once the plugins are installed, set up the Admin user details.

Save and continue.

Set up the Instance configuration with your ec2 public IP address.

Save and finish.

Now Install the Docker Pipeline plugin in Jenkins:

• Go to Manage Jenkins > Manage Plugins.

• In the Available tab, search for "Docker Pipeline".

• Select the plugin and click the Install button.

• Restart Jenkins after the plugin is installed.

  

Now install the docker agent in the instance

sudo apt install docker.io

Let's Grant Jenkins user and Ubuntu user permission to docker daemon.

sudo su - 
usermod -aG docker jenkins
usermod -aG docker ubuntu
systemctl restart docker

Now let's create a first Jenkins pipeline.

Click on Create Job > then add the Name > choose the pipeline option.

In the next step scroll down and move to Pipeline

• Pipeline: Pipeline script from SCM

• SCM: Git

• Repository: Enter the repo link

• Branch: check main/master in GitHub and add according to it

• script path: add the path to the Jenkins file in GitHub

For this pipeline I have used the following Jenkinsfile

pipeline {
     // Define the agent where the pipeline runs, using a Docker container with Python 3.9
    agent {
        docker {
            image 'python:3.9-alpine'
        }
    }
      // Define the stages of the pipeline
    stages {
         // Stage for testing
    stage('Test') {
         // Steps to be executed within the 'Test' stage
        steps {
                // Print the Python version
            sh 'python --version'
        }
    }
   }
}

Now after saving the changes in the next screen click on Build now

Once the build is complete we can see the following output.

In the console output:

Congratulations on doing this perfectly.

As we execute our first Jenkins pipeline successfully, we recognize the transformative impact Jenkins has on the CI/CD landscape. Its versatility, extensibility, and user-friendly interface make it a go-to choice for teams aiming to streamline their development processes. In the upcoming blog, we will have new updates on the Jenkins blog.

Happy Learning!!