Introduction to Jenkins – Overview, Features, History, and Web UI

Introduction to Jenkins

1. Understanding Jenkins

1.1 What is Jenkins?

Jenkins, originally named Hudson, is a Java‑based open‑source automation server widely used in medium‑to‑large enterprises (especially finance) for continuous integration and delivery. Its extensive plugin ecosystem makes it highly extensible.

1.2 Jenkins Features

Open source and free

Cross‑platform support (Windows, Linux, macOS)

Master‑agent distributed architecture

Web‑based visual configuration interface

Easy installation and setup

Rich plugin ecosystem

1.3 Jenkins History

Jenkins originated from the Hudson project, a Java continuous‑integration tool started by Sun in 2004, with its first release in 2005. By 2008 Hudson had surpassed CruiseControl and won the Duke’s Choice Award at JavaOne.

In November 2010, after Oracle’s acquisition of Sun, a trademark dispute over the “Hudson” name led the community to vote on renaming the project. The vote passed in January 2011, and the project was rebranded as Jenkins.

Oracle later announced it would continue developing Hudson as a separate fork, while Jenkins grew rapidly; by December 2013 Jenkins had over 567 contributors and about 1,100 public repositories on GitHub, far outpacing Hudson.

2. Jenkins Web UI

2.1 Management Page

The system management page provides access to system configuration, global security, tool configuration, node management, authorization, plugin management, backup, and log monitoring.

2.2 Project Management Page

2.3 Build Output Page

3. Jenkins Builds

3.1 Jenkins Project Types

3.2 Jenkins Parameter Types

Credential, string, password, boolean, file, text, runtime, and choice parameters.

3.3 Jenkins Triggers