Knowledge Base  /  Cloud Application Manager  /  Integrating with Jenkins
Knowledge Base  /  Cloud Application Manager  /  Integrating with Jenkins

Setting Up Jenkins with Cloud Application Manager

Updated by Gavin Lai and Julio Castanar on May 16, 2019
Article Code: kb/419

In this article:

Overview

To continuously integrate and deploy through Cloud Application Manager, you need a Jenkins server set up to work with your source control management system (SCM) and the Cloud Application Manager plugin.

If GitHub is your SCM, these sections document how to integrate Jenkins, GitHub plugins, and Cloud Application Manager.

To install Jenkins with Cloud Application Manager and Git Plugins follow the steps in this page to build and deploy Jenkins server from a box. The box installs the latest open source Jenkins server with GitHub plugins, dependencies, and the Cloud Application Manager plugin.

IMPORTANT: Since the Jenkins server box is Debian based, remember to deploy it on a Debian Ubuntu Linux image.

Audience

If you use Jenkins to continuously test and integrate code changes in development, staging, or production, you’d want to use the Jenkins Cloud Application Manager plugin to fully automate touchless deployments.

Prerequisites

  • Access to Cloud Application Manager, Applications site.
  • GitHub account token access

Create a Jenkins Server Box

Access to Cloud Application Manager with your account

Perform the following steps:

1. Create a new Box

On the Boxes page, click New Box and select Script type. Enter these details and save.

CAM jenkins server script box

2. Setup Box variables

Go to Code page in that box and add the following variables to store Jenkins server deployment values.
Next table shows necessary variables to congfig Jenkins Server Box.

Name Type Description
GIT_REPOSITORY_URL Text Provide your own Git repository.
GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN Text Your GitHub access credentials.
GITHUB_PROJECT_URL Text your GitHub project URL.
GITHUB_USER Text your GitHub username.
HTTP Port port on the Jenkins server to allow Internet traffic.
PLUGINS Text Jenkins plugin dependencies separated by space.
GITHUB_PLUGIN_CONFIG File plugin that triggers GitHub to push pull requests.
MERGE_JOB File merge build job template.

CAM jenkins server box code - adding variables

Use the New button, to add a variable and fill in it as indicated below:
- select the appropriate variable type,
- fill in the name of the variable in uppercase,
- leave their value empty by default and mark the required checkbox. Their value will be requested at deploy time
- pay attention to the visibility field to protect your variable privacy (Public, Private or Internal).

  • Provide your own Git repository through a text variable called GIT_REPOSITORY_URL.

    CAM jenkins server box var-git-repository

  • Pass the GitHub access token in a text variable.

    CAM jenkins server box var-git-access-token


Get GitHub Access Token

To get it, sign in to your GitHub account. In the upper right corner, select in the user menu the settings option. Under settings, go to Developer settings > Personal access tokens > Generate new token. Describe why you need the token (for instance: "CAM Jenkins Server").

Github get token

Under scope, select repo and repo: status. Then click Generate Token. Copy and paste it as shown.


  • Provide your GitHub project URL in a text variable called GITHUB_PROJECT_URL.

CAM jenkins server box var-git-project-url

  • Provide your GitHub username as a text variable called GITHUB_USER.

CAM jenkins server box var-git-user

  • Open HTTP port 8080 on the Jenkins server through a port variable called HTTP to allow Internet traffic.

CAM jenkins server box var-http-port

  • Refer to the Cloud Application Manager, Git, and GitHub plugin dependencies in a text variable called PLUGINS.
    Enter this value:
        elasticbox git github

CAM jenkins server box var-plugins

  • Add a plugin that triggers GitHub to push pull requests. Name this variable as GITHUB_PLUGIN_CONFIG

CAM jenkins server box var-git-plugin-config

Copy, paste this script in a text file, save in XML, and upload to a file variable called GITHUB_PLUGIN_CONFIG.

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
 <com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubPushTrigger_-DescriptorImpl plugin="github@1.9.1">
    <manageHook>true</manageHook>
    <credentials>
        <com.cloudbees.jenkins.Credential>
            <username>{{ GITHUB_USER }}\</username>
            <apiUrl>https://api.github.com</apiUrl>
            <oauthAccessToken>{{ GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN }}\</oauthAccessToken>
        </com.cloudbees.jenkins.Credential>
    </credentials>
</com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubPushTrigger_-DescriptorImpl>
  • Add the merge build job template as a file variable called MERGE_JOB.

CAM jenkins server box var-merge-job

Copy, paste the script in a text file, save in XML, and upload as shown.

<project>
    <actions/>
    <description/>
    <keepDependencies>false</keepDependencies>
    <properties>
        <com.coravy.hudson.plugins.github.GithubProjectProperty plugin="github@1.9.1">
            <projectUrl>{{ GITHUB_PROJECT_URL }}\</projectUrl>
        </com.coravy.hudson.plugins.github.GithubProjectProperty>
    </properties>
    <scm class="hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM" plugin="git@2.2.7">
        <configVersion>2</configVersion>
        <userRemoteConfigs>
            <hudson.plugins.git.UserRemoteConfig>
                <name>origin</name>
                <refspec>+refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*</refspec>
                <url>{{ GIT_REPOSITORY_URL }}\</url>
            </hudson.plugins.git.UserRemoteConfig>
        </userRemoteConfigs>
        <branches>
            <hudson.plugins.git.BranchSpec>
                <name>master</name>
            </hudson.plugins.git.BranchSpec>
        </branches>
        <doGenerateSubmoduleConfigurations>false</doGenerateSubmoduleConfigurations>
        <submoduleCfg class="list"/>
        <extensions/>
    </scm>
    <canRoam>true</canRoam>
    <disabled>true</disabled>
    <blockBuildWhenDownstreamBuilding>false</blockBuildWhenDownstreamBuilding>
    <blockBuildWhenUpstreamBuilding>false</blockBuildWhenUpstreamBuilding>
    <triggers>
        <com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubPushTrigger plugin="github@1.9.1">
            <spec/>
        </com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubPushTrigger>
    </triggers>
    <concurrentBuild>false</concurrentBuild>
    <builders/>
    <publishers/>
    <buildWrappers/>
</project>
  • Add the pull request job template as a file variable called PULL_REQUEST_JOB.

CAM jenkins server box var-pull-request-job

Copy, paste the script in a text file, save in XML, and upload as shown.

<project>
    <actions/>
    <description/>
   <keepDependencies>false</keepDependencies>
   <properties>
       <com.coravy.hudson.plugins.github.GithubProjectProperty plugin="github@1.9.1">
           <projectUrl>{{ GITHUB_PROJECT_URL }}\</projectUrl>
       </com.coravy.hudson.plugins.github.GithubProjectProperty>
   </properties>
   <scm class="hudson.plugins.git.GitSCM" plugin="git@2.2.7">
       <configVersion>2</configVersion>
       <userRemoteConfigs>
           <hudson.plugins.git.UserRemoteConfig>
               <name>origin</name>
               <refspec>+refs/pull/*:refs/remotes/origin/pr/*</refspec>
               <url>{{ GIT_REPOSITORY_URL }}\</url>
           </hudson.plugins.git.UserRemoteConfig>
       </userRemoteConfigs>
       <branches>
           <hudson.plugins.git.BranchSpec>
               <name>${PR_COMMIT}</name>
           </hudson.plugins.git.BranchSpec>
       </branches>
       <doGenerateSubmoduleConfigurations>false</doGenerateSubmoduleConfigurations>
       <submoduleCfg class="list"/>
       <extensions/>
   </scm>
   <canRoam>true</canRoam>
   <disabled>true</disabled>
   <blockBuildWhenDownstreamBuilding>false</blockBuildWhenDownstreamBuilding>
   <blockBuildWhenUpstreamBuilding>false</blockBuildWhenUpstreamBuilding>
   <triggers>
       <com.elasticbox.jenkins.triggers.PullRequestBuildTrigger plugin="elasticbox@0.9.7">
         <spec></spec>
         <triggerPhrase>.*test\W+this\W+please.*</triggerPhrase>
         <whitelist></whitelist>
       </com.elasticbox.jenkins.triggers.PullRequestBuildTrigger>
   </triggers>
   <concurrentBuild>false</concurrentBuild>
   <builders/>
   <publishers>
       <com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubCommitNotifier plugin="github@1.9.1"/>
   </publishers>
   <buildWrappers/>
</project>

3. Add the following events to install Jenkins server and the plugins.

pre_install event

Install Jenkins. Copy, paste the script in the pre_install event and save.

#/bin/bash

# For certain images In some clouds like GCE, packages are being installed by the provider at this point, so we need to wait for the installation to finish
WAIT_SECONDS=0
while [[ -f /var/lib/apt/lists/lock && ${WAIT_SECONDS} -lt 180 ]]
do
    sleep 5
    WAIT_SECONDS=$(( WAIT_SECONDS + 5 ))
done

# Install Jenkins and Git
curl -ks https://jenkins-ci.org/debian-stable/jenkins-ci.org.key | apt-key -y add -
echo deb http://pkg.jenkins-ci.org/debian-stable binary/ > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list
  apt-get install default-jre -y
apt-get -y update
apt-get -y --allow-unauthenticated install jenkins git
configure event

Install the plugins, the build job templates, and configure GitHub plugins with username, access token, and repository URL. Copy, paste the script in the configure event and save.

#!/bin/bash

set -e

function install_template() {
    SOURCE_URL=${1}
    DESTINATION_PATH=${2}
    curl -ks ${SOURCE_URL} -o ${DESTINATION_PATH}
    elasticbox config -i ${DESTINATION_PATH} -o ${DESTINATION_PATH}
    chown jenkins:jenkins ${DESTINATION_PATH}
}

JENKINS_HOME=~jenkins

# Install plugins specified in variable PLUGINS
PLUGINS="{{ PLUGINS }}\"
if [ -n "${PLUGINS}" ]
then
    # Get the latest plugin info for update center
    mkdir -p ${JENKINS_HOME}/updates
    curl -Ls http://updates.jenkins-ci.org/update-center.json | sed '1d;$d' > ${JENKINS_HOME}/updates/default.json
    chown -R jenkins:jenkins ${JENKINS_HOME}/updates

    # Restart Jenkins and wait for it to be up
    service jenkins restart
    sleep 30

    for PLUGIN_NAME in ${PLUGINS}
    do
        echo Installing plugin ${PLUGIN_NAME}
        java -jar /var/cache/jenkins/war/WEB-INF/jenkins-cli.jar -s http://127.0.0.1:8080/ install-plugin ${PLUGIN_NAME}
        echo Installed plugin ${PLUGIN_NAME}
    done
fi

# Configure GitHub plugin with GitHub user ID and access token specified in the variable GITHUB_USER and GITHUB_ACCESS_TOKEN
install_template {{ GITHUB_PLUGIN_CONFIG }}\ ${JENKINS_HOME}/com.cloudbees.jenkins.GitHubPushTrigger.xml

# Install CI/CD job templates
mkdir -p ${JENKINS_HOME}/jobs/pull-request
install_template {{ PULL_REQUEST_JOB }}\ ${JENKINS_HOME}/jobs/pull-request/config.xml

mkdir ${JENKINS_HOME}/jobs/merge
install_template {{ MERGE_JOB }}\ ${JENKINS_HOME}/jobs/merge/config.xml

chown -R jenkins:jenkins ${JENKINS_HOME}/jobs

# Restart Jenkins server
service jenkins restart

Deploy the Jenkins Server Box

Select a Debian Ubuntu Linux image when deploying the Jenkins server box. You can launch to any public or private cloud provider, or to your own infrastructure. Here we deploy to Google Cloud.

Before You Begin

Configure your cloud provider network to allow Internet traffic to the Jenkins server. Make the instance IP address public and set the firewall port to 8080. Additionally, open another port to let Jenkins slaves talk to the server. Assign this port any number you like.

Here we configure the Google Cloud network to allow Internet traffic through port 8080 and Jenkins slave traffic through port 55555.

Configure cloud provider firewall

  1. Log in to the Google Cloud console.

  2. Select the project associated with your Google provider account in Cloud Application Manager.

  3. Expand Compute > Compute Engine > Networks. Select the default network. Under Firewall rules, click Create new.

  4. Enter details as shown to open ports 8080 and 55555. Note that Cloud Application Manager uses the target tag to detect the firewall rule.

  5. Sync your provider account in Cloud Application Manager to fetch the rule.

Steps to deploy Jenkins server

  1. Sign in to Cloud Application Manager.

  2. Create a new deployment policy box. Boxes > New > Deployment Policy and select Virtual or Physical Machine.

  3. Select Google Compute as the provider. Give a name to the box and click on Save.

  4. Go to the new deployment policy box and modify it.

    CAM jenkins server deploy-policy edit

  5. In the policy, select a Debian Ubuntu Linux image. Although a g1.small machine type will do, select n1-standard-2 to deploy faster.

  6. Under Network, select the firewall rule from Google Cloud. Select Ephemeral IP to make the instance IP address public.

    CAM jenkins server deploy-policy config

  7. Click on Save to save the changes.

  8. Go to the Jenkins server box you built.

  9. On its box page, click Deploy.

  10. In the instance dialog, name the deployment, and select the new deployment policy box.

  11. Check the Jenkins server deployment variables such as the repository URL, access token, project URL, and GitHub username.

  12. Click Deploy to launch the Jenkins server.

When online, in the instance page under Endpoints, click the public IP address to open the Jenkins server management portal. You can see that the server has all the GitHub plugins and the build job templates.

Connect Cloud Application Manager in Jenkins

In your Jenkins server management interface, follow these steps to register your Cloud Application Manager account.

Note: Set the Jenkins server URL to make Jenkins server links work in auto-posted messages on GitHub pull requests. Go to Manage Jenkins > Configure System. Under Jenkins URL, set the URL and save.

Steps

  1. Under Jenkins > Manage Jenkins > Configure System > Cloud, click Add a new cloud and select Cloud Application Manager. Enter details as given:

    Name Description
    Description Enter information to identify your Cloud Application Manager account in Jenkins jobs.
    End Point URL Enter a custom URL if using Cloud Application Manager as an appliance.
    Max. No. of Instances This is the total number of instances Jenkins will launch through your account. We recommend at least 5.
    Authentication Token Get a token and paste it here. If you use username, password to access Cloud Application Manager, get one by clicking Get Authentication Token.
  2. Click Verify Authentication Token to see if Jenkins can connect to Cloud Application Manager.

  3. Click Save when done.

Contacting Cloud Application Manager Support

We’re sorry you’re having an issue in Cloud Application Manager. Please review the troubleshooting tips, or contact Cloud Application Manager support with details and screenshots where possible.

For issues related to API calls, send the request body along with details related to the issue.

In the case of a box error, share the box in the workspace that your organization and Cloud Application Manager can access and attach the logs.

  • Linux: SSH and locate the log at /var/log/elasticbox/elasticbox-agent.log
  • Windows: RDP into the instance to locate the log at /ProgramData/ElasticBox/Logs/elasticbox-agent.log