Cloud Foundry CLI Plugin

The Cloud Foundry plugin provisions the Cloud Foundry CLI in your Jenkins jobs so that you can deploy applications or interact with a Cloud Foundry platform.

You can install the version of the Cloud Foundry CLI of your choice.

This plugin is tested with the following Cloud Foundry platforms:

Pivotal Web Services (aka PWS)
Pivotal CF (aka PCF)

Plugin Installation

To install Cloud Foundry CLI plugin:

From the main page, navigate to Manage Jenkins Manage Plugin Available tab Cloud Foundry CLI.
Select Download Now and Install After Restart.

Figure 1. Cloud Foundry CLI plugin installation

Configuration

Before jobs can utilize the Cloud Foundry CLI, it is necessary to define the CLI version(s) to make available on Jenkins.

From the main page, navigate to Manage Jenkins Configure System.
In the Cloud Foundry CLI section of the screen, select Cloud Foundry Installations …, and then select Add Cloud Foundry CLI.

Choose a name for the CLI installation (for example, Cloud Foundry 6.9.0) and select the installation method. By default, Installer from cloudfoundry.org is selected and a drop-down list allows you to select the version.

Figure 2. Cloud Foundry CLI installer configuration

If the dropdown list of available versions is not visible and replaced by an input box, you have to trigger the reloading of the update center. Navigate to Manage Plugins Advanced tab, and then select Check Now.

Figure 3. Reloading Jenkins Update Center

Using the Cloud Foundry CLI in a Pipeline Job

Once the Cloud Foundry CLI is setup in the System Configuration, you can use it in any Pipeline job as a build wrapper.

Cloud Foundry CLI Pipeline syntax

The Groovy syntax looks like:

node {
   // ...

   withCfCli(  (1)
      apiEndpoint: 'https://api.cf-domain.example.com', (2)
      skipSslValidation: false, (3)
      cloudFoundryCliVersion: 'Cloud Foundry CLI (built-in)', (4)
      credentialsId: 'cf-user-cleclerc-credentials',  (5)
      organization: 'my-org', (6)
      space: 'development') { (7)

       sh 'cf push my-app-name -p target/my-app*.war' (8)

   }
}▼

1	`withCfCli` step
2	URL of the Cloud Foundry API endpoint (for example, "http://api.cf-domain.example.com")
3	Skip SSL validation when using a self signed certificate for the API endpoint (please don’t)
4	Name of the Cloud Foundry CLI version defined in the Jenkins System Configuration screen
5	ID of the credentials to configure the Cloud Foundry CLI
6	Default Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime organization
7	Default Cloud Foundry Elastic Runtime space
8	`cf` commands used in `sh` steps, the Cloud Foundry CLI is configured with the desired API endpoint, credentials and default organization and space.

Evaluating `cf` commands result

Evaluating the result of the cf command is key to the logic of your Pipeline.

cf commands return non-zero exit code in case of error and thus, shell steps will by default fail if a cf command fails
To capture the output of a cf command in a Pipeline, use returnStdout: true as described in the Pipeline steps reference

Pipeline snippet generator

You can generate the Pipeline statement to setup the Cloud Foundry CLI using the Jenkins Pipeline Snippet Generator.

Figure 4. Cloud Foundry CLI Pipeline snippet

Job configuration

To enable the Cloud Foundry CLI in a job, go to the Configuration page of the job, and in the Build Environment section, select Set up Cloud foundry CLI.

You can then select:

Cloud Foundry CLI version: The version of the CLI to use in this job. This CLI installation has been configuration in Jenkins System Configuration.
API EndPoint: URL of the Cloud Foundry API (for example https://api.run.pivotal.io).
Skip ssl validation: Disable SSL certificate validation when invoking the Cloud Foundry API, please don’t disable SSL validation.
API Credentials: Login/password to use when invoking the Cloud Foundry API (see cf auth).
Organization: The Cloud Foundry Organization (see cf target).
Space: The Cloud Foundry Space (see cf target).

Figure 5. Cloud Foundry CLI job configuration

Using the Cloud Foundry CLI in a job

Once the Cloud Foundry CLI is setup in a job, you can use it in any Execute Shell or Execute Windows Batch Command step.

Figure 6. Cloud Foundry CLI sample shell step

Security notes

The Cloud Foundry CLI is configured per job so that 2 jobs running on the same agent will not see the settings of each other (different CF_HOME for each job). Moreover, the Cloud Foundry CLI settings are deleted from the agent after the job execution (CF_HOME is deleted).

Known issue

This plugin is not compatible with CloudBees Docker Custom Build Environment. If the latter is used to run a Docker container to host the build, the CloudFoundry CLI plugin won’t configure credentials. The CLI won’t be able to interact with CloudFoundry. Refer to JENKINS-33000 for the latest information.