We all
know that continuous
integration and continuous delivery are integral parts of DevOps, as they are used to integrate multiple stages of the methodology. There are many CI/CD tools on the market, but do you know that Jenkins, the Java-based open source CI/CD tool, tops the popularity list? Jenkins for test automation is a popular choice among developers due to its ability to easily integrate with a variety of testing tools. It has always been the preferred choice for DevOps professionals and beginners.
Jenkins is the oldest player on the CI/CD market, and has over 16,000 stars and 6,500 forks on GitHub. It also has great community support with over 1500 plugins to help professionals ship faster through their Jenkins Pipelines. Let’s see how we can use Jenkins test automation, as it allows developers to quickly and easily run tests on their code to ensure it works properly.
Before we dive into how Jenkins works, we need to understand what makes Jenkins so popular and why to use it. Jenkins helps organizations automate parts of their software development process, such as building, testing, and deploying applications. It is beneficial for automating repetitive tasks and for integrating different tools and processes into the software development workflow. Jenkins automation tests can be configured to run tests automatically whenever new code is pushed to the repository.
Some key benefits of using
Jenkins include:
- Automation: Jenkins can automate many tasks in the software development process, such as compile, test, and deploy code. This helps reduce the risk of errors and improve the speed and efficiency of the development process.
- Customization: Jenkins is highly customizable, with a wide range of plugins available that allow users to tailor Jenkins to their specific needs. This allows Jenkins to be integrated with a wide range of tools and processes.
- Collaboration: Jenkins can be configured to send notifications to team members and stakeholders when certain events occur, such as the completion of a build or the detection of a bug. This helps facilitate collaboration and improve communication within the development team.
- Scalability: Jenkins is designed to be scalable and can handle a large number of builds and deployments. This makes it suitable for use in organizations of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.
This was just a brief answer in our Jenkins tutorial for beginners, on why it’s used. You can read more on our blog about what Jenkins is and its settings.
In addition, Jenkins
test automation can help reduce the time and effort required to run tests manually by automating the process. Jenkins
for
Automation Testing is a great tool for teams that want to ensure the quality and reliability of their code. In this Jenkins tutorial for beginners, let’s first understand what a Jenkins pipeline is. A Jenkins pipeline is a set of plug-ins that enables the deployment and integration of continuous delivery pipelines within Jenkins. Jenkinsfile is a text file that contains the definition of a Jenkins pipeline and is secured in source control.
A Jenkins pipeline has a specific structure and consists of at least two types of elements: stages and steps. Stages represent phases of the pipeline, such as build, test, and deployment, while steps are specific tasks that run in a phase. For example, a build stage might contain steps for compiling code, running tests, and creating a package.
Jenkins pipelines are a powerful and flexible way to automate software build, test, and deployment. They allow you to define the entire delivery process in a single Jenkinsfile, making it easy to track changes and rollback if necessary.
Therefore, a well-defined Jenkins pipe can help shorten production times and improve the quality of applications. You can learn in detail through our blog about how to create the Jenkins pipe.
Through this Jenkins tutorial for beginners, let’s understand how integrating Jenkins with Selenium makes the entire Selenium test automation process much easier.
With the Jenkins integration, you can automate the execution of Selenium Webdriver tests as part of the continuous delivery process. This allows you to detect and fix problems early in the development cycle and ensure that the application is of high quality.
This can save time and effort by automating repetitive tasks and detecting any issues early in the development process. Not only does it ensure quality in your deployments, but it also makes your entire Selenium test automation process much easier.
Automated testing with Jenkins can help teams identify and fix defects in their code faster and more efficiently. Read our detailed blog on Jenkins integration with Selenium Webdriver to understand two different integration methods.
Through this Jenkins tutorial for beginners, we have understood the integration of Jenkins & Selenium
, but now we will learn the integration of Maven with Jenkins and Selenium.
Maven is a build automation tool used to manage Java-based projects. It can be used to manage project dependencies, build the project, and run tests. Jenkins is a continuous integration and delivery platform that can automate the build and test process.
To use Maven and Jenkins with Selenium, you’ll need to install and configure both tools. You’ll also need to install the Selenium plugin for Jenkins, which allows Jenkins to run Selenium tests as part of the build process.
Overall, using Maven, Jenkins, and
Selenium can greatly improve the efficiency, accuracy, and coverage of automated tests, making it an invaluable tool for ensuring the quality and reliability of web applications.
This is a part of the Jenkins tutorial for beginners for a complete guide, go to our blog about Selenium Maven Jenkins integrations.
Here are jenkins best practices that should be followed.
Keep Jenkins
- safe at all times
- Always backup the “JENKINS_HOME” directory
- Configure a different job/project for each maintenance or development branch created
- resource collisions in jobs running in parallel
- Use File Fingerprinting to Manage Dependencies
- Avoid complicated Codesode in
- Create a scalable
- Jenkins pipeline Manage declarative syntax/declarative pipelines
- Maintain greater coverage of test code and run unit tests as part of
- Monitor your CI/CD pipeline
Avoid
pipelines
your pipeline
By following these best practices, you can ensure that your Jenkins instance runs smoothly and efficiently, and that your team can collaborate effectively and deliver high-quality software.
In this Jenkins tutorial for beginners we have listed Jenkins best practices that you can read about its importance and how to put it into practice in our blog about Jenkins best practices.
The Jenkins multibranch pipeline
is a Jenkins feature that allows you to automatically create a pipeline for each branch of the source code repository. This means that every time you push a new branch to your repository, Jenkins will create a new pipeline specifically for that branch and execute all the steps defined in the pipeline.
One of the advantages of using a multibranch pipeline is that you can build and test your code in a separate environment for each branch. This is especially useful if you have multiple developers working on different features in separate branches, as it allows you to test and validate each feature individually before merging it into the main branch.
Jenkins automated testing is a powerful tool that can help teams improve the quality and reliability of their software. Overall, the Jenkins Multibranch Pipeline is a powerful tool that can help teams automate the process of building and releasing their software projects, and ensure that each branch is thoroughly tested and validated before merging with the parent branch.
We have briefly explained about Jenkins
multibranch pipeline, you can know its steps, periodic trigger and its use cases in detail through our blog about Jenkins multibranch pipeline.
