Jenkins Plugin

The Jenkins Plugin for Cloudify, provided with version 5.0.5 onward, allows Jenkins authors to embed Cloudify functions within jobs and pipelines, thus simplifying the usage of the Cloudify Manager through Jenkins.

Plugin contents

The plugin provides:

• Discrete build steps for basic Cloudify functions (uploading / deleting blueprints, creating / deleting environments, workflow execution and so forth)
• A standard Jenkins Build Wrapper, a convenient enclosure for other build steps that sets up a Cloudify environment before the main steps and deletes the environment afterwards
• Build steps for integration with other provisioning tools:
  • Azure ARM
  • AWS CloudFormation
  • Terraform
  • Ansible

Prerequisites

Jenkins version: 2.222.4+

Installation

The plugin can be installed like any other Jenkins plugin - through the official Jenkins Update Center (using the Jenkins administration UI, or the Jenkins CLI).

Installing in controlled environments

In certain environments, access to the public Jenkins Update Center is restricted. There are a few ways to cope with it (such as using a custom Update Center configuration file), which are described in Jenkins’ documentation.

If you would like to install the Cloudify Jenkins plugin directly, you can download the plugin file (with .hpi extension) from Jenkins’ Maven artifact repository: https://repo.jenkins-ci.org/

Our plugin’s Group ID is io.jenkins.plugins and the Artifact ID is cloudify. You can therefore browse the artifacts in this link: https://repo.jenkins-ci.org/releases/io/jenkins/plugins/cloudify/

Examples

The Jenkins plugin repository contains a few examples of job definitions making use of features included in this plugin. You can find them here.

To import these definitions into Jenkins, use the Jenkins CLI. For example:

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s <jenkins_url> create-job <job_name> < path_to_job_xml_file

For example:

java -jar jenkins-cli.jar -s <jenkins_url> create-job <job_name> < examples/jobs/cloudify-wrapper-with-git.xml

Terminology

NOTE: Refer to the general CI/CD Integration page for common Cloudify concepts related to CI/CD integration.

Inputs Mapping File

Often, the outputs of a deployment (see “Deployment Outputs File” above) are used, in whole or in part, as inputs to subsequent Cloudify operations. This transformation can be accomplished in various Cloudify build-steps by providing an inputs mapping file, which is a YAML/JSON file that provides mapping information.

The structure of an inputs mapping file is as follows:

{
    "outputs": {
        "output_1_name": "input_1_name",
        "output_2_name": "input_2_name",
        ...
    },
    "capabilities": {
        "cap_1_name": "input_3_name",
        "cap_2_name": "input_4_name",
        ...
    }
}

For example, considering the outputs file above, and the following mapping file:

{
    "outputs": {
        "endpoint": "endpoint_ip",
        "auth_info": "user_info"
    }
}

The resultant JSON file will look like this:

{
    "endpoint_ip": "10.0.0.131",
    "user_info": {
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "very_secret"
    }
}

Installation

At the moment, this plugin is not available through Jenkins’ official plugins repository. To install the plugin, download the HPI file from the releases section and install it via Jenkins’ “Advanced” panel in the “Manage Plugins” section.

Configuration

Cloudify Manager Endpoint

You should define the Cloudify Manager endpoint in Jenkins’ console (“Manage Jenkins” -> “Configure System”, look for “Cloudify Manager”).

You can also specify a Cloudify tenant to use by default. If none is provided, then Cloudify’s default tenant (default_tenant) will be used.

NOTE: When using an SSL-secured Cloudify Manager, the Manager’s external-facing certificate must either be:

• Signed by a publicly-trusted CA; or
• Signed by a CA whose certificate exists in the JRE’s trust store; or
• Imported (along with any intermediary certificates, if any) into the JRE’s trust store

Credentials

Most Cloudify-related functionality requires credentials to operate. Cloudify doesn’t offer its own Jenkins credentials type; you should use the standard, out-of-the-box “Username with Password” credentials type.

General Usage Notes

Passing Credentials

The passing of credentials to Jenkins’ Cloudify functionality is done differently depending on whether your Jenkins project is a freestyle project or a pipeline project (more commonly used nowadays).

When using a build step through a freestyle job, you need to provide the ID of a credenetials entry. Usually, you would prefer to receive this ID through a job parameter, in which case you can use Jenkins’ standard parameters expansion syntax. For example: ${cfy_credentials} will return the value of a job parameter named cfy_credentials.

When using a build step through a pipeline, there are two ways to provide credentials:

• Through the credentialsId parameter, which receives the ID of a credentials entry (with similar semantics to using a step in freestyle jobs, as described above). Note that, at the moment, this method can’t be used with user-scoped credentials.

• by providing the username and password parameters. This is useful when you can’t use the credentialsId parameter, or when you prefer to use the traditional withCredentials syntax, which exports the username and password to variables. For example:

  withCredentials([usernamePassword(credentialsId: "${params.cfy_credentials}", usernameVariable: 'CFY_USERNAME', passwordVariable: 'CFY_PASSWORD')]) {
  deleteCloudifyEnv username: "${CFY_USERNAME}",
      password: "${CFY_PASSWORD}",
      ...
      ...
  }

Available Build Steps: Basic

Upload Cloudify Plugin

Use this build-step to upload a plugin to Cloudify Manager.

Upload Cloudify Blueprint

This build-step uploads a blueprint to Cloudify Manager. The blueprint source may be provided as either:

• Path to a directory on the local filesystem
• Path to an archive on the local filesystem
• A URL to a tar.gz file

In addition, the blueprint’s main YAML file must be provided.

Delete Cloudify Blueprint

Use this build-step to delete a blueprint from Cloudify Manager by its ID.

Build Cloudify Environment

Use this build-step to create a Cloudify deployment.

Delete Cloudify Environment

Use this build-step to delete a Cloudify deployment.

Execute Cloudify Workflow

Use this build-step to execute a workflow on a deployment.

Convert Cloudify Environment Outputs/Capabilities to Inputs

Use this build-step to transform a Deployment Outputs File to a standard Deployment Inputs File (see “Inputs Mapping File” above).

Available Build Steps: Provisioners and Orchestrators

The plugin provides build-steps to facilitate the usage of popular provisioners and orchestrators, allowing job/pipeline authors to use such tools through Cloudify in a seamless manner.

Run Ansible Playbook

This build step receives the path / URL of an Ansible playbook, along with other context parameters, and runs it using Cloudify’s official Ansible plugin.

Prerequisites:

• Cloudify’s Ansible Plugin installed on Cloudify Manager

Create Azure ARM Deployment

This build step receives the path / URL of an Azure ARM template, and template parameters. The template is then deployed on Azure, using Cloudify’s Azure plugin.

Prerequisites:

• Cloudify’s Azure Plugin installed on Cloudify Manager

Notes:

Certain parameters may be omitted, in which case the value will default to Cloudify secrets:

Create CloudFormation Stack

This build step receives the path / URL of an AWS CloudFormation template, as well as template parameters, and creates a CloudFormation Stack off it, using Cloudify’s AWS plugin.

Prerequisites:

• Cloudify’s AWS Plugin installed on Cloudify Manager

Notes:

Certain parameters may be omitted, in which case the value will default to Cloudify secrets:

Apply Terraform Module

This build step receives the path / URL of a Terraform module, as well as module variables, and applies the module, using Cloudify’s Terraform plugin.

Prerequisites:

• Cloudify’s Terraform Plugin installed on Cloudify Manager
• Terraform installed

Notes:

Certain parameters may be omitted, in which case the value will default to Cloudify secrets:

Cloudify’s Build Wrapper

The Cloudify Plugin for Jenkins also provides a Jenkins Build Wrapper. The wrapper provides a convenience method for creating a Cloudify environment before the build, and destroying it afterwards.

The wrapper can be activated by checking the “Cloudify Environment” box under “Build Environment” during job definition.