How to Install Jenkins on Vultr Kubernetes Engine

Jenkins is an open-source continuous-integration (CI) and continuous-delivery (CD) server used for project development, deployment, and automation. Software developers use it to build, test, and deploy their software. It is written in Java and provides hundreds of plugins to automate testing and changes in a larger code base.

This guide shows you how to set up Jenkins on Vultr Kubernetes Engine, which provides many benefits over standalone server-based deployment. Kubernetes-based deployment is a very cost-effective solution and also decreases the time needed for development.

Prerequisites

• Deploy a Vultr Ubuntu 20.04 instance to use as a management workstation.

• Deploy a Kubernetes cluster at Vultr with at least three or more nodes with 2GB RAM and 2 CPUs.

• Install kubectl on Vultr Ubuntu management workstation.

You'll perform the rest of the steps in this guide from your management workstation.

Verify Kubernetes Cluster

Before starting, verify the Vultr Kubernetes Cluster using the following command:

kubectl cluster-info

You will see the Cluster information in the following output:

Kubernetes control plane is running at https://e4737bcd-3971-4624-b896-0181aae56bae.vultr-k8s.com:6443

CoreDNS is running at https://e4737bcd-3971-4624-b896-0181aae56bae.vultr-k8s.com:6443/api/v1/namespaces/kube-system/services/kube-dns:dns/proxy

To check the active status of all Cluster nodes, run the following command:

kubectl get nodes

You should see that all nodes are in ready status:

NAME                           STATUS   ROLES    AGE     VERSION

jenkins-cluster-136e69da18fb   Ready    <none>   3m21s   v1.25.4

jenkins-cluster-97b1dd155b22   Ready    <none>   3m21s   v1.25.4

jenkins-cluster-a329dcb28ac7   Ready    <none>   3m21s   v1.25.4

Install Jenkins on Kubernetes

1. First, create the Jenkins namespace:

   # kubectl create namespace jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   namespace/jenkins-namespace created
   

2. Next, create a serviceAccount.yaml file.

   # nano serviceAccount.yaml
   

   Add the following configurations to create a service account called jenkins-account and binds the clusterRole to the service account.

   ---
   
   apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
   
   kind: ClusterRole
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-account
   
   rules:
   
     - apiGroups: [""]
   
       resources: ["*"]
   
       verbs: ["*"]
   
   
   
   ---
   
   apiVersion: v1
   
   kind: ServiceAccount
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-account
   
     namespace: jenkins-namespace
   
   
   
   ---
   
   apiVersion: rbac.authorization.k8s.io/v1
   
   kind: ClusterRoleBinding
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-account
   
   roleRef:
   
     apiGroup: rbac.authorization.k8s.io
   
     kind: ClusterRole
   
     name: jenkins-account
   
   subjects:
   
   - kind: ServiceAccount
   
     name: jenkins-account
   
     namespace: jenkins-namespace
   

3. Apply the above configuration to Kubernetes Cluster.

   # kubectl apply -f serviceAccount.yaml
   

   Output.

   clusterrole.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/jenkins-account created
   
   serviceaccount/jenkins-account created
   
   clusterrolebinding.rbac.authorization.k8s.io/jenkins-account created
   

4. Create a volume configuration file.

   # nano volume.yaml
   

   Add the following configuration for persistent volume.

   kind: StorageClass
   
   apiVersion: storage.k8s.io/v1
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-storage
   
   provisioner: kubernetes.io/no-provisioner
   
   volumeBindingMode: WaitForFirstConsumer
   
   
   
   ---
   
   apiVersion: v1
   
   kind: PersistentVolume
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-pv-volume
   
     labels:
   
       type: local
   
   spec:
   
     storageClassName: jenkins-storage
   
     claimRef:
   
       name: jenkins-pv-claim
   
       namespace: jenkins-namespace
   
     capacity:
   
       storage: 10Gi
   
     accessModes:
   
       - ReadWriteOnce
   
     local:
   
       path: /opt
   
     nodeAffinity:
   
       required:
   
         nodeSelectorTerms:
   
         - matchExpressions:
   
           - key: kubernetes.io/hostname
   
             operator: In
   
             values:
   
             - jenkins-cluster-136e69da18fb
   
   
   
   ---
   
   apiVersion: v1
   
   kind: PersistentVolumeClaim
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-pv-claim
   
     namespace: jenkins-namespace
   
   spec:
   
     storageClassName: jenkins-storage
   
     accessModes:
   
       - ReadWriteOnce
   
     resources:
   
       requests:
   
         storage: 3Gi
   

   Note: Replace the jenkins-cluster-136e69da18fb with any of your cluster nodes.

   If you need to know the hostname of your worker node, run the following command.

   # kubectl get nodes
   

   The above configuration will create a PersistentVolume volume in a cluster node inside the /opt directory. You will also need to properly define the worker node name for the Jenkins pod to get scheduled in the specific node.

5. Create a persistent volume on the Kubernetes cluster using the kubectl command.

   # kubectl create -f volume.yaml
   

   Output.

   storageclass.storage.k8s.io/jenkins-storage created
   
   persistentvolume/jenkins-pv-volume created
   
   persistentvolumeclaim/jenkins-pv-claim created
   

6. Create a deployment.yaml file.

   # nano deployment.yaml
   

   Add the following manifest configuration.

   apiVersion: apps/v1
   
   kind: Deployment
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins
   
     namespace: jenkins-namespace
   
   spec:
   
     replicas: 1
   
     selector:
   
       matchLabels:
   
         app: jenkins-server
   
     template:
   
       metadata:
   
         labels:
   
           app: jenkins-server
   
       spec:
   
         securityContext:
   
               fsGroup: 1000 
   
               runAsUser: 1000
   
         serviceAccountName: jenkins-account
   
         containers:
   
           - name: jenkins
   
             image: jenkins/jenkins:lts
   
             resources:
   
               limits:
   
                 memory: "2Gi"
   
                 cpu: "1000m"
   
               requests:
   
                 memory: "500Mi"
   
                 cpu: "500m"
   
             ports:
   
               - name: httpport
   
                 containerPort: 8080
   
               - name: jnlpport
   
                 containerPort: 50000
   
             livenessProbe:
   
               httpGet:
   
                 path: "/login"
   
                 port: 8080
   
               initialDelaySeconds: 90
   
               periodSeconds: 10
   
               timeoutSeconds: 5
   
               failureThreshold: 5
   
             readinessProbe:
   
               httpGet:
   
                 path: "/login"
   
                 port: 8080
   
               initialDelaySeconds: 60
   
               periodSeconds: 10
   
               timeoutSeconds: 5
   
               failureThreshold: 3
   
             volumeMounts:
   
               - name: jenkins-data
   
                 mountPath: /var/jenkins_home         
   
         volumes:
   
           - name: jenkins-data
   
             persistentVolumeClaim:
   
                 claimName: jenkins-pv-claim
   

   The above configuration file will:

   • Creates a Jenkins deployment using the latest Jenkins image and opens ports 8080 and 50000 to accept connections from Jenkins workers.

   • Mounts the persistent volume on the /var/jenkins_home directory to hold Jenkins data.

   • Define liveness probes to check the container's health status.

   • Define readiness probes to know when a container can start accepting traffic.

7. Apply the above deployment to the Kubernetes cluster.

   # kubectl apply -f deployment.yaml
   

   Output.

   deployment.apps/jenkins created
   

   Wait for some time to pull the Jenkins image and get the Jenkins pod running.

8. Verify the status of the Jenkins pod.

   # kubectl get deployments -n jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   NAME      READY   UP-TO-DATE   AVAILABLE   AGE
   
   jenkins   1/1     1            1           94s
   

9. Get a detail information about Jenkins deployment.

   # kubectl describe deployments --namespace=jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   Name:                   jenkins
   
   Namespace:              jenkins-namespace
   
   CreationTimestamp:      Tue, 22 Nov 2022 21:03:42 +0530
   
   Labels:                 <none>
   
   Annotations:            deployment.kubernetes.io/revision: 1
   
   Selector:               app=jenkins-server
   
   Replicas:               1 desired | 1 updated | 1 total | 1 available | 0 unavailable
   
   StrategyType:           RollingUpdate
   
   MinReadySeconds:        0
   
   RollingUpdateStrategy:  25% max unavailable, 25% max surge
   
   Pod Template:
   
     Labels:           app=jenkins-server
   
     Service Account:  jenkins-account
   
     Containers:
   
      jenkins:
   
       Image:       jenkins/jenkins:lts
   
       Ports:       8080/TCP, 50000/TCP
   
       Host Ports:  0/TCP, 0/TCP
   
       Limits:
   
         cpu:     1
   
         memory:  2Gi
   
       Requests:
   
         cpu:        500m
   
         memory:     500Mi
   
       Liveness:     http-get http://:8080/login delay=90s timeout=5s period=10s #success=1 #failure=5
   
       Readiness:    http-get http://:8080/login delay=60s timeout=5s period=10s #success=1 #failure=3
   
       Environment:  <none>
   
       Mounts:
   
         /var/jenkins_home from jenkins-data (rw)
   
     Volumes:
   
      jenkins-data:
   
       Type:       PersistentVolumeClaim (a reference to a PersistentVolumeClaim in the same namespace)
   
       ClaimName:  jenkins-pv-claim
   
       ReadOnly:   false
   
   Conditions:
   
     Type           Status  Reason
   
     ----           ------  ------
   
     Available      True    MinimumReplicasAvailable
   
     Progressing    True    NewReplicaSetAvailable
   
   OldReplicaSets:  <none>
   
   NewReplicaSet:   jenkins-7b95fb694 (1/1 replicas created)
   
   Events:
   
     Type    Reason             Age   From                   Message
   
     ----    ------             ----  ----                   -------
   
     Normal  ScalingReplicaSet  19m   deployment-controller  Scaled up replica set jenkins-7b95fb694 to 1
   

Create Kubernetes Service for External Access

At this point, Jenkins is successfully deployed and running on the Kubernetes cluster. However, you can not access Jenkins from the remote machine. In this case, you will need to create a service and bind it to the Jenkins deployment.

1. First, create a service.yaml file using the following command:

   # nano service.yaml
   

   Add the following configurations to expose port 8080 of the Jenkins pod to port 32000.

   apiVersion: v1
   
   kind: Service
   
   metadata:
   
     name: jenkins-service
   
     namespace: jenkins-namespace
   
     annotations:
   
         prometheus.io/scrape: 'true'
   
         prometheus.io/path:   /
   
         prometheus.io/port:   '8080'
   
   spec:
   
     selector: 
   
       app: jenkins-server
   
     type: NodePort  
   
     ports:
   
       - port: 8080
   
         targetPort: 8080
   
         nodePort: 32000
   

2. Next, deploy the service configuration to the Jenkins deployment.

   # kubectl apply -f service.yaml
   

   Output.

   service/jenkins-service created
   

3. Verify the status of the Jenkins service.

   # kubectl get services --namespace jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   NAME              TYPE       CLUSTER-IP       EXTERNAL-IP   PORT(S)          AGE
   
   jenkins-service   NodePort   10.103.86.99   <none>        8080:32000/TCP   6s
   

Access Jenkins Web Interface

At this point, Jenkins is installed and listens on port 32000 for external access. Now, you will need to retrieve the IP address of the cluster node to access the Jenkins web interface.

1. First, get a node IP address using the kubectl command.

   # kubectl get nodes -o wide
   

   You will get the external IP of all nodes in the following output.

   NAME                           STATUS   ROLES    AGE   VERSION   INTERNAL-IP   EXTERNAL-IP    OS-IMAGE                       KERNEL-  
   
   VERSION    CONTAINER-RUNTIME
   
   jenkins-cluster-7e8eba45f3a6   Ready    <none>   23m   v1.25.4   10.46.96.6    65.20.79.223   Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)   4.19.0-22-amd64   containerd://1.6.9
   
   jenkins-cluster-a45a12e27a63   Ready    <none>   23m   v1.25.4   10.46.96.5    65.20.79.2     Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)   4.19.0-22-amd64   containerd://1.6.9
   
   jenkins-cluster-cfacc64361f5   Ready    <none>   23m   v1.25.4   10.46.96.4    65.20.74.173   Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster)   4.19.0-22-amd64   containerd://1.6.9
   

2. Next, open your web browser and access Jenkins using the URL http://node-external-ip:32000. You will be asked to provide the initial Admin password.

   

3. Get Jenkins pod details using the following command.

   # kubectl get pods --namespace=jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   NAME                      READY   STATUS    RESTARTS   AGE
   
   jenkins-7b95fb694-5xqnp   1/1     Running   0          20m
   

4. Check the Jenkins pod logs to retrieve the Jenkins Admin password.

   # kubectl logs jenkins-7b95fb694-5xqnp --namespace=jenkins-namespace
   

   Output.

   *************************************************************
   
   
   
   Jenkins initial setup is required. An admin user has been created and a password generated.
   
   Please use the following password to proceed to installation:
   
   
   
   a1f057cba5f6440f863b6e5a57d880fa
   
   
   
   This may also be found at: /var/jenkins_home/secrets/initialAdminPassword
   
   
   
   *************************************************************
   

5. Copy the password from the above output and enter it on the Jenkins initial Admin password screen to proceed with the Jenkins installation.

Conclusion

This guide shows you how to install and configure Jenkins on Vultr Kubernetes Engine. Jenkins is a core component of CI/CD pipelines. It helps you perform very complex operations and increase productivity. For more information, check out the official Jenkins documentation.