Connecting inbound agents
When an administrator wants to connect an inbound (formerly known as “JNLP”) external agent to a Jenkins Master, such as a Windows virtual machine running outside the cluster and using the agent service wrapper, two connection types are available in CloudBees CI on modern cloud platforms.
| Connection type | Description |
|---|---|
WebSocket for Agent Remoting Connections (available in CloudBees CI on modern cloud platforms version 2.222.2.1 and later) |
This is the recommended method for all new inbound agent connections. It is a substitute for the older method and is simpler, more straightforward, and easier to establish. This feature allows for the agent to call back on the regular HTTP port, using WebSocket to set up a bidirectional channel. Using WebSocket, inbound agents can now be connected much more simply when a reverse proxy is present: if the HTTP(S) port is already serving traffic, most proxies will allow WebSocket connections with no additional configuration. WebSocket for Agent Remoting Connections provides the following benefits:
|
Inbound TCP (formerly known as JNLP) |
With this connection, the master must expose a non-HTTP port (conventionally 50000) and then wait for an agent pod to call back to it. This can complicate network architectures. You can use a values.yaml file for this or configure it manually. |
Connecting inbound agents using WebSocket for Agent Remoting Connections
CloudBees CI on modern cloud platforms supports using WebSocket transport to connect inbound agents to Managed Masters. This works for shared agents and clouds, as well.
Note: This feature is available in CloudBees CI on modern cloud platforms version 2.222.2.1 and later.
This functionality lets you make a connection via HTTP(S), then holds the connection open to create a bidirectional channel to send data back and forth between Managed Masters and inbound agents.
No special network configuration is needed since the regular HTTP(S) port proxied by the CloudBees CI ingress is used for all communications.
For additional details about WebSocket support in Jenkins, see JEP-222: WebSocket Support for Jenkins Remoting and CLI.
To connect inbound agents:
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On the Agent Configuration screen, in Launch method, select Launch agent by connecting it to the master.
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Select Use WebSocket.
Enabling the Use WebSocket option allows the agent to make a connection to the WebSocket.
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Follow the instructions on the Agent page to connect the agent. For more details, see Launching inbound agents.
Connecting inbound agents using the values.yaml file
Use this procedure only if Helm was used to install NGINX Ingress Controller. If Helm was not used to install NGINX Ingress Controller, you should configure ports manually.
The procedure is similar to the one allowing connection of external masters to Operations Center using Helm.
To use the values.yaml file to configure ports for inbound agents:
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Type the following command:
curl -Is https://$DOMAIN_NAME/$MASTER_NAME/tcpSlaveAgentListener/ | fgrep -i X-Jenkins-JNLP-PortOn AWS, if you followed these instructions, proxy protocol will be enabled. It requires adding :PROXYat the end of each entry.This returns the advertised port for inbound agent traffic of a specific master.
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Add the service mapping to the
tcpsection of thevalues.yamlfile (replace occurrences ofcloudbees-corewith the namespace where CloudBees CI was installed,$JNLP_MASTER_PORTby the port determined above, and$MASTER_NAMEby the master name):tcp: $JNLP_MASTER_PORT: "cloudbees-core/$MASTER_NAME:$JNLP_MASTER_PORT"or (proxy protocol variant)
tcp: $JNLP_MASTER_PORT: "cloudbees-core/$MASTER_NAME:$JNLP_MASTER_PORT:PROXY"Add a line for every master that you want to allow external inbound agent connections to. -
Deploy the configuration:
helm repo add ingress-nginx https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx helm repo update helm upgrade ingress-nginx \ ingress-nginx/ingress-nginx \ --install \ --namespace ingress-nginx \ --values values.yaml \ --version 3.3.0 -
These changes require a redeployment, but due to nginx issue #4804 this will happen only when creating the tcp section, not when updating it.
To force a rolling update, use the following command:
kubectl patch deployment ingress-nginx-controller -p \ "{\"spec\":{\"template\":{\"metadata\":{\"annotations\":{\"date\":\"`date +'%s'`\"}}}}}"
After you have configured ports, you should test the connection.
Configuring inbound agents using self-signed certificates
You can configure connections for agents using self-signed certificates or enterprise certificates that are not trusted by the shared agent. To configure inbound agents using self-signed certificates, you must use a Kubernetes deployment with a load balancer that supports websockets or inbound TCP. The self-signed certificate must be trusted by the client.
Complete the following steps:
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Type the following command to create a TrustStore called
cacerts.jksand import the certificate:keytool -import -v -trustcacerts -alias cbci.example.com -file cbci.example.com-certificate.pem -keystore cacerts.jks -storepass changeit -
In the Operations Center, configure the JVM options with the TrustStore and TrustStore password using a location the inbound agent can access:
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Use the TrustStore when you execute the launch connection from the agent:
java -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=/var/jenkins_home/cacerts.jks -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=changeit -jar slave.jar -jnlpURL https://cbci.example.com/cjoc/jnlpSharedSlaves/sharedagent/slave-agent.jnlp -secret xxx
Testing the connection for inbound agents
After you have configured the connection for inbound agents, you should confirm that Master is ready to receive external inbound agent requests.
To test the connection for inbound agents:
$ curl $DOMAIN_NAME:$JNLP_MASTER_PORT
Jenkins-Agent-Protocols: Diagnostic-Ping, JNLP4-connect, OperationsCenter2, Ping
Jenkins-Version: 2.176.1.4
Jenkins-Session: f4e6410a
Client: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
Server: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
Remoting-Minimum-Version: 3.4Once the connection is correctly configured in your cloud, you can then create a new 'node' in your master under Manage Jenkins > Manage Nodes.
| The node should be configured with: - Launch method: 'Launch agent by connecting it to the master' |