Configuring a CI/CD Pipeline with Jenkins on AWS

Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) are essential practices for modern software development. These practices involve automating the build, testing, and deployment of software applications, which helps to minimize the risk of errors and speed up the delivery process.

In this article, we will discuss how to configure a CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins on AWS. We will go through the steps required to set up Jenkins on an EC2 instance and configure it to deploy a sample application to an Amazon Elastic Beanstalk environment.

Prerequisites:

- An AWS account
- A basic understanding of AWS services
- A basic understanding of Jenkins and CI/CD

Step 1: Launch an EC2 Instance

The first step is to launch an EC2 instance that will host the Jenkins server. In the AWS Management Console, navigate to the EC2 service and launch a new instance. Choose an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) that matches your requirements, such as Ubuntu or Amazon Linux.

Make sure to configure the Security Group to allow inbound traffic on port 8080, which is the default port for Jenkins.

Step 2: Install Jenkins

Once the instance is launched, connect to it using SSH and install Jenkins. On Ubuntu, you can use the following commands:

```
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-8-jdk
wget -q -O - https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable/jenkins.io.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo deb http://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install jenkins
```

This will install the required dependencies and Jenkins itself.

Step 3: Configure Jenkins

After Jenkins is installed, you can access the Jenkins web interface by opening a browser and navigating to http://:8080.

On the first access, you will need to enter the initial admin password to proceed with the configuration. This can be found in the Jenkins instance's log file, located at `/var/log/jenkins/jenkins.log`. Run the following command to view the password:

```
sudo cat /var/log/jenkins/jenkins.log | grep password
```

After entering the initial admin password, you will be prompted to install the recommended plugins. Choose the "Install suggested plugins" option to proceed.

Once the plugins are installed, you will be prompted to create an admin user. After creating an admin user, you will be redirected to the Jenkins dashboard.

Step 4: Create a Jenkins Job

Now that Jenkins is installed and configured, we can create a job to automate the build and deployment of our sample application.

To create a new job, click the "New Item" button on the Jenkins dashboard and choose "Freestyle project". Give the job a name, such as "sample-app".

In the job configuration, select the "Git" option under "Source Code Management" and enter the repository URL and branch to build. Under "Build Triggers", select "Build when a change is pushed to GitHub". Finally, under "Build", add a build step to run the build script.

Step 5: Deploy to Elastic Beanstalk

To deploy the sample application to an Elastic Beanstalk environment, we need to install the AWS Elastic Beanstalk plugin for Jenkins.

In the Jenkins dashboard, click "Manage Jenkins" and then "Manage Plugins". Search for "AWS Elastic Beanstalk" and install the plugin.

Once the plugin is installed, go back to the job configuration and add a new post-build step under "Post-build Actions". Choose "Deploy Elastic Beanstalk" and fill in the required fields, such as the application name, environment name, and AWS credentials.

Now, every time a change is pushed to the repository, Jenkins will automatically build and deploy the sample application to the specified Elastic Beanstalk environment.

Conclusion

In this article, we discussed how to configure a CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins on AWS. We walked through the steps required to set up Jenkins on an EC2 instance and configure it to deploy a sample application to an Elastic Beanstalk environment.

CI/CD pipelines are critical for modern software development, as they help to minimize errors and speed up the delivery process. By following the steps outlined in this article, you can set up a robust and automated pipeline for your own applications.