Jenkins is a free and open source automation server. It helps automate the parts of software development related to building, testing, and deploying, facilitating continuous integration and continuous delivery. It is a server-based system that runs in servlet containers such as Apache Tomcat.
- It is an open source tool with great community support.
- It is easy to install.
- It has 1000+ plugins to ease your work. If a plugin does not exist, you can code it and share with the community.
- It is free of cost.
- It is built with Java and hence, it is portable to all the major platforms.
- There are certain things about Jenkins that separates it from other the Continuous Integration tool. Let us take a look on those points.
What is Jenkins tool used for?
Jenkins (software) Jenkins is a free and open source automation server. It helps automate the parts of software development related to building, testing, and deploying, facilitating continuous integration and continuous delivery. It is a server-based system that runs in servlet containers such as Apache Tomcat.
Jenkins Key Metrics:
Following are some facts about Jenkins that makes it better than other Continuous Integration tools:
- Adoption:
Jenkins is widespread, with more than 147,000 active installations and over 1 million users around the world.
- Plugins:
Jenkins is interconnected with well over 1,000 plugins that allow it to integrate with most of the development, testing and deployment tools.
It is evident from the above points that Jenkins has a very high demand globally. Before we dive into Jenkins it is important to know what is Continuous Integration and why it was introduced.
What are the types of jobs in Jenkins?
Jenkins supports several different types of build jobs. The two most commonly-used are the freestyle builds and the Maven 2/3 builds. The freestyle projects allow you to configure just about any sort of build job: they are highly flexible and very configurable.
Jenkins Features:
Jenkins offers many attractive features for developers:
- Easy Installation:
Jenkins is a platform-agnostic, self-contained Java-based program, ready to run with packages for Windows, Mac OS, and Unix-like operating systems.
- Easy Configuration
Jenkins is easily set up and configured using its web interface, featuring error checks and a built-in help function.
- Available Plugins
There are hundreds of plugins available in the Update Center, integrating with every tool in the CI and CD toolchain.
- Extensible
Jenkins can be extended by means of its plugin architecture, providing nearly endless possibilities for what it can do.
- Easy Distribution
Jenkins can easily distribute work across multiple machines for faster builds, tests, and deployments across multiple platforms.
- Free Open Source
Jenkins is an open-source resource backed by heavy community support.
As a part of our learning about what is Jenkins, let us next learn about the Jenkins architecture.
What is Jenkins and Continuous Integration?
Jenkins to the rescue! As a Continuous Integration tool, Jenkins allows seamless, ongoing development, testing, and deployment of newly created code. Continuous Integration is a process wherein developers commit changes to source code from a shared repository, and all the changes to the source code are built continuously. This can occur multiple times daily. Each commit is continuously monitored by the CI Server, increasing the efficiency of code builds and verification. This removes the testers' burdens, permitting quicker integration and fewer wasted resources.
Continuous Integration is preferable to a Nightly Build and Integration process, run at day's end when everyone has gone home (freeing server resources). Nightly integration is limited, occurring only once per day, as opposed to the continuous process of CI. Developers agree that nightly integration is useful in situations where the build process takes such an inordinately large amount of time that it is best conducted when fewer people are accessing the servers.
