CloudBees CI / Jenkins® and CloudBees platform: Getting started

Jenkins® is an open-source automation server used to automate the software development process, including building, testing, and deploying applications. CloudBees CI is built on Jenkins, but it is an enterprise-level continuous integration (CI) platform, and it offers additional features like enhanced security, scalability, and support to facilitate CI/CD processes at scale. Both of these CI DevOps tools can integrate with CloudBees platform, offering enhanced security and analytics within a robust and feature-rich user interface.

Integrate CloudBees CI and Jenkins projects with CloudBees platform in five steps, as follows. Each of the links below provide more detail.

Table 1. Steps to integrate your controller with CloudBees platform.
Step #	Set up location	Description and reference links
1	Your controller	Set up a CloudBees CI or Jenkins Multibranch Pipeline project type with a GitHub branch source.
2	Your controller	Install the CloudBees Platform Integration Plugin.
3	CloudBees platform	Set up a CloudBees CI or Jenkins controller integration to CloudBees platform.
4	CloudBees platform	Create a GitHub integration for the Multibranch project code source.
5	CloudBees platform	Create a component with the integrated source code to enable metrics for your project.

As soon as you integrate your CI with CloudBees platform, you can:

Visualize details of your CI jobs and builds, including test results and build artifacts.
Set up automatically triggered implicit security analysis.
Create an application, which enables you to orchestrate complex software releases.

System specifications

This CloudBees platform feature currently has the following technical requirements and limitations. These factors may evolve in the future.

Use a CloudBees CI or Jenkins Multibranch Pipeline project type only. Other project types are not supported at this time.
Use a GitHub branch source for the Multibranch Pipeline. Other SCM providers are not supported at this time.
Create an SCM integration between the GitHub repository associated with your Multibranch Pipeline and CloudBees platform.
If your Multibranch Pipeline contains more than one repository, only the first detected GitHub repository is considered by CloudBees platform.
Only CloudBees CI or Jenkins jobs and builds executed from your controller after integrating with CloudBees platform are displayed.

Install the CloudBees Platform Integration Plugin

All Multibranch Pipelines running across CI controllers can be viewed directly within the CloudBees platform interface. This enhanced integration provides a comprehensive, unified view of Multibranch Pipelines and builds across the entire CI environment, simplifying monitoring, management, and gaining valuable insights into CI operations. This functionality is enabled by the CloudBees Platform Integration plugin (cloudbees-cbp-integration-plugin), which connects CI controller instances to CloudBees platform for a seamless experience.

Prerequisites

For CloudBees CI: This plugin is only available for CloudBees CI version 2.504.2.5 or newer.
For Jenkins: This plugin is only available for Jenkins version 2.504.2 or newer.

Plugin installation

This plugin installation is a requirement for both CloudBees CI and Jenkins integration with CloudBees platform.

To install the CloudBees Platform Integration plugin:

From the controller dashboard, go to the Manage Jenkins Plugins Available Plugins.
Select the Available tab.
Use the Filter field to search for CloudBees Platform Integration Plugin.
Select the checkbox next to the plugin.
Select Download now and install after restart to install the plugin.
Once the plugin is installed, restart the controller instance.
After the restart, navigate to CloudBees platform and create a component to link the source code in your controller with CloudBees platform.

Create an integrated component

To fully integrate a CI pipeline with CloudBees platform, create a component to link the source code in your controller with CloudBees platform. Each component connects to a single source code repository via an SCM integration. By creating a component for your pipeline source code, you can facilitate the management of complex CI pipelines and ensure traceability and insight into your SDLC. Components ensure that all code updates are systematically processed, logged, and integrated, which enhances the scalability and reliability of software delivery.

To create a component for visualizing your CI pipeline:

Create a GitHub integration with CloudBees platform for the Multibranch project code source.
Create a CloudBees platform component with the integrated source code to enable metrics for your project.
- indicates a repository integrated with a CloudBees CI or Jenkins Multibranch Pipeline that you can select to create a component.
- If you do not find your repository listed with , select Set up your controller to confirm that it is connected to the CI controller.

Figure 1. A Jenkins-integrated repository is highlighted.

The component for your integrated CI pipeline is created accordingly.

Next steps

Learn how to access and review your integrated CI data in CloudBees platform: