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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

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A tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications using a YAML configuration file.
Message Queue
A communication mechanism that enables asynchronous message passing between services, decoupling producers from consumers.
Infrastructure as Code (IaC)
The practice of managing infrastructure through machine-readable configuration files rather than manual processes.
Kubernetes
An open-source container orchestration platform that automates deploying, scaling, and managing containerized applications.
Trunk-Based Development
A source control strategy where developers integrate small changes directly into the main branch frequently, often multiple times per day.
Vault
A tool by HashiCorp for securely managing secrets, encryption keys, and certificates with dynamic secret generation.
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