Should You Go For Continuous Integration With Jenkins?

What is Jenkins?

Continuous Integration with Jenkins is an open-source server worthy of directing a series of actions. It assists to accomplish the Continuous Integration process and not only in a mechanical fashion. Jenkins continuous integration is free and is completely jotted down in Java. It is a widely used application around the world that has approximately 300k installations. It is evolving day by day. It is a server-based application and needs a web server such as Apache Tomcat. The reason Jenkins became so prominent is that of its monitoring of reviewed tasks that happen during the improvement of a project. 

For instance, if your team is creating a project, Jenkins continuous integration will continuously test your project builds and indicate the mistakes in the initial stages of your development. By utilizing continuous instigation with Jenkins, software companies can stimulate their software development process, as Jenkins can automate creation and test at an immediate rate. Jenkins supports the detailed development lifecycle of software from testing, creating, documenting the software, deploying, etc.

In Continuous Integration after a code commit, the software is created and tested instantly. In a large project with various developers, commits are made several times during a day. With each commit, code is assembled and tested. If the test is approved, the build is tested for deployment. The code is pushed to production if the deployment is a success. A Continuous Integration Jenkins Pipeline example is an important instrument that comprises a set of tools formulated to monitor, host, compiles etc.

History of Jenkins

A Java developer, Kohsuke Kawaguchi, serving at SUN Microsystems was exhausted from building the code and fixing errors repetitively. In 2004, built an automation server called Hudson that automates build and test assignment. Both Hudson and Jenkins proceeded to govern independently. However, in a short period, Jenkins developed a lot of projects and contributors while Hudson stayed with only 32 projects. With time, Jenkins became more popular on the other hand, Hudson is not maintained anymore. Let’s look at Continuous Integration(CI) with Jenkins.

Also Read: Scaling Automated Testing with Jenkins

Use Continuous Integration with Jenkins

Few people probably think that the old-fashioned way of formulating the software is acceptable. Let’s understand the advantages of CI with Jenkins with the following illustration. Let say that there are roughly 10 developers who are functioning on a shared repository. Few creators finish their tasks in 25 days while others take 30 days to complete. Let’s look at Jenkins commands: before and after.

Before Jenkins

1. Once all developers had finished their assigned coding tasks, they utilized to commit their code all at the same time. Later, Build is tested and deployed.
2. The code was built, and the test cycle was very rare, and a single build was done after numerous days.
3. Before the code was built all at once, some creators would require to wait until further developers complete coding to check their build.
4. It is not an easy task to separate, detect, and fix errors for many commits.
5. Code build and test processes are completely manual, so there are a lot of shots for failure.
6. The development cycle is slow.

After Jenkins

1. The code is built and tested as soon as the Developer commits code. Jenkin will build and test code various times during the day
2. If the build is profitable, then Jenkins will deploy the source into the test server and inform the deployment team.
3. If the build fails, then Jenkins will tell the errors to the developer team.
4. The code is created instantly after any of the Developer commits.
5. Since the code is built after each commit of a single developer, it’s simple to detect whose code affected the build to fail
6. Automated build and test process saving timing and decreasing defects.
7. The development cycle is fast. Modern features are more readily accessible to users as it enhances profits.

Real-world case study of Continuous Integration

As we all are aware of the old phone Nokia. Nokia used to execute a procedure named nightly build. After numerous commits from various developers during the day, the software is created every night. They acquired the Continuous Integration approach later. The software was created and tested as soon as a developer or creator committed code. If any error is observed, the respective developer can shortly fix the defect.

Advantages of Using Jenkins

Jenkins is being governed by a very open community. Every month, they carry public meetings and seize information from the public for the advancement of the Jenkins project.  So far approximately 280 tickets are closed, and the project circulates permanent release every three months. As technology rises, so does Jenkins. So far Jenkins has around 320 plugins publicized in its plugins database. With plugins, Jenkins becomes even more influential and feature-rich. The reason why Jenkins evolved and became popular is that it was established by a developer for developers.

Disadvantages of Using Jenkins

However Jenkins is a very powerful tool, it has its drawbacks too. Let’s see its disadvantages: 

1. Its interface is outdated and not user-friendly correlated to new UI trends.
2. Nonetheless, Jenkins is loved by various developers. It’s not that easy to maintain it because Jenkins operates on a server and needs some skills as a service manager to monitor its activity.
3. One of the reasons why various people do not execute Jenkins is due to its complication in installing and configuring it.
4. Consecutive integrations perennial break due to some tiny setting changes. Continuous integration will be halted and thus needs some attention from the developer.

To conclude, in Continuous Integration with Jenkins, after a code commit, the software is created and tested instantly. Jenkins is an open-source Continuous Integration server eligible for orchestrating a line of actions. Since Jenkins, all Developers had finalized their assigned coding tasks. They used to commit their code all at the indistinguishable time. Later, Build is tested and deployed. The largest pros of Jenkins is that it is managed by the community that carries public meetings. It takes inputs from the public for the improvement of Jenkins projects. On the other hand, the largest con of Jenkin is that its interface is not user friendly compared to recent UI trends.

Also Read: Tools For Continuous Integration And Its Benefits