Jenkins Basic Configuration

Jenkins CI is the leading open-source continuous integration server. Built with Java, it provides 985 plugins to support building and testing virtually any project. You can use it for build automation, test automation, build pipeline. Its open source and have lots of free plugins available.

Its Open Source alternative for paid CI servers like Atlassian Bamboo. This article will explain the basics configuration of Jenkins. Check the Jenkins installation from the previous articles. Once the jenkins installation is done, we can open the Jenkins tool using the localhost:8080 Url.

We see the below screen when we open the application. This application does have any users configured at this moment.

2) Configure the users and security

There will be no users configured when jenkins first start up. A Default user will be available in performing the basic actions like creating users/groups. It is necessary to configure the users before performing any sort of other actions. In order to create a basic user for performing administrative actions, enable the "Enable Security" under the Configure Global Security.

In the Access Control "choose the Jenkins Own User Database" and check the Box for "Allow Users to sign up". This will make sure the users will be allowed to create accounts which will be saved in the own jenkins user database.

Now for the Authorization , add a User/group as "testing" or whatever you would like to. Once added the user will be shown under the User/group tab. Choose the administrative actions that user should have like "Administer" , "Run Scripts" etc. Most cases we will select all options for our development purpose. For the user that is created , newly check all the options available.

Now once we restart the jenkins, it allows to sign up a new users. Create a new user with Sign Up options.

3) Configure System

This is the same user we will use to configure Jobs and other options in Jenkins. The first thing that we need to do after configuring the User is to configure the necessary libraries.

The most important ones are the JDK ,Ant and Maven Configuration. Configure the necessary environment libraries and configure the Locations as shown above based on your local configurations. 

4) Plug-in Management

Now once the security is set, users are configured and system is configured. It time to move to the Plug-ins. A plug-in are applications or programs that are easily installed or inserted in the existing software to perform additional functionalities.

Jenkins provides us vast number of plug-ins that allows the developers to perform numerous functionalities. Some of the plug-in that helps us to integrate other software tools like Jira ,Git and Github. 

Check the necessary plug-in from the "Manage Plug-ins" , Available tab. Once found like the Git plug-in below, check that select "Download now with/with out restart".

More to Come, Happy Learning