Learn how to use Jenkins X to automate your pipeline and achieve CI/CD.

DevOps for Developers

Jenkins X is a powerful tool for providing software developers continuous integration, automated testing, and continuous delivery, known as CI/CD, in Kubernetes.

It’s no secret that Kubernetes is extremely complex, and Jenkins X helps you by simplifying processes into concepts that can be adopted quickly and without spending months trying to figure out “the right way to do stuff.”

In this course, you’ll start by exploring the inner workings of Jenkins X and how to create a cluster using it. You’ll then learn how to combine Jenkins X with tools you’re already using. Throughout, you’ll see how this exciting new tool changes how you work with Kubernetes.

By the time you’re done, you will be confident managing CI/CD using Jenkins X in a Kubernetes cluster.

Jenkins X with Kubernetes

> ⚠️ As mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, the examples are verified only in GKE and EKS, given those are the only currently (February 2020) supported platforms for `jx boot`. Double-check the documentation to see whether that changed or be brave and try it out yourself with other Kubernetes flavors.

From now on, we will not use `jx create cluster` to create a Kubernetes cluster and install Jenkins X. Instead, I will assume that you will create a cluster any way you like (e.g., **Terraform**, `gcloud`, etc.) and we'll focus only on how to set up Jenkins X. If you're lazy and do not yet want to figure out the best way to create a cluster, the Gists that follow can get you up-to-speed fast. Just remember that the commands in them are not the recommended way to create a cluster, but rather the easiest and fastest method I could come up with.

I opted for commands instead of, let's say, **Terraform** for two reasons. 
- First of all, I'm trying to keep this neutral as a way to avoid influencing you about the tool you should use for managing infrastructure. Now, I'm aware that I already stated a couple of times that I prefer **Terraform**, so I cannot say that I am neutral *(I'm not)*, so that argument is not really valid, so let's jump to the second one. 
- The more important reason for not using any tool for creating and setting up a cluster lies in the decision not to spend time explaining such a tool. This is neither the time nor the place to enter into configuration management discussion. 


This lesson provides the link to gists that you can use to create a Kubernetes cluster without Jenkins X.

Creating a Kubernetes Cluster (Without Jenkins X)