How to Install Jenkins on Ubuntu?

Updated: Apr 10, 2023

Jenkins is an open-source automation server that helps to automate various tasks like building, testing, and deploying software. If you're working with AWS, you can install Jenkins on an EC2 instance and automate your build and deployment processes. This blog post will walk you through installing Jenkins on an EC2 instance.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, you'll need the following:

An AWS account
An EC2 instance running a Linux operating system (Ubuntu 22.04) with the security group well configured
An SSH client to connect to the EC2 instance

Step 1: Install Java

When you install Jenkins on an Ubuntu instance, it downloads the Jenkins WAR (Web Application Archive) file containing the Jenkins application and its dependencies. To run the Jenkins application, you need to have a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) or a Java Development Kit (JDK) installed on your machine.

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-11-jre
java -version

Step 2: Add the Jenkins Repository Key

The second step is to add the Jenkins repository key to your system. This key is used to verify the packages you download from the Jenkins repository. Run the following command to add the key:


curl -fsSL https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable/jenkins.io-2023.key | sudo tee   /usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc > /dev/null

Step 3: Add the Jenkins Repository

After adding the repository key, you must add the Jenkins repository to your system. This command line uses the new repository signing keys for the Linux installation packages (> Jenkins 2.387.2) - More info here and here.

Run the following command to add the repository:


echo deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc]   https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ | sudo tee   /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list > /dev/null

Step 4: Update the Package Lists

Next, update the package lists to ensure that your system has the latest information about available packages. Run the following command:


sudo apt-get update

Step 5: Install Jenkins

Once you have added the repository and updated the package lists, you can install Jenkins using the following command:


sudo apt-get install jenkins -y

This command will download and install Jenkins, along with any necessary dependencies.

Step 6: Start the Jenkins Service

After installing Jenkins, you can start the Jenkins service using the following command:


sudo systemctl start jenkins

Step 7: Access the Jenkins Web Interface

Once the Jenkins service runs, you can access the Jenkins web interface by navigating to http://your-ip-instance:8080 in your web browser. You can follow the prompts from there to set up your Jenkins installation.

Step 8: The first Connection

When first accessing http://your-ip-instance:8080, Jenkins will ask for a password that is located at /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword. Here is how to access it:

sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/jenkins/secrets
sudo nano /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword

Conclusion

This blog post showed you how to install Jenkins on an EC2 instance. With Jenkins installed, you can automate your build and deployment processes and save time and effort. We hope this tutorial was helpful, and if you have any questions or feedback, please let us know in the comments.

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