🎁 New User? Get 20% off your first purchase with code NEWUSER20 · ⚡ Instant download · 🔒 Secure checkout Register Now →
Menu

Categories

DevOps Intermediate

What is Jenkins?

An open-source automation server for building, testing, and deploying software through configurable CI/CD pipelines.

Jenkins is the most widely used CI/CD server. Pipelines are defined in Jenkinsfiles (Groovy-based DSL) with stages like Build, Test, and Deploy. Jenkins supports thousands of plugins for integration with virtually any tool.

Features include distributed builds (master/agent architecture), pipeline-as-code, Blue Ocean UI, shared libraries, and extensive plugin ecosystem. While newer tools (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI) offer simpler setup, Jenkins remains dominant in enterprise environments.

Related Terms

Git
A distributed version control system that tracks changes in source code during software development.
CI/CD
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment — automated practices for building, testing, and deploying code changes.
Rolling Update
A deployment strategy that gradually replaces old application instances with new ones, maintaining availability throughout.
Artifact Repository
A centralized storage system for build artifacts like compiled binaries, packages, and container images used in CI/CD pipelines.
Postmortem
A structured analysis conducted after an incident to understand what happened, why, and how to prevent recurrence — without assigning blame.
Service Mesh
An infrastructure layer that handles service-to-service communication, providing load balancing, encryption, and observability.
 View All DevOps Terms →