Using Docker in Jenkins Pipeline Job | Jenkins Docker Plugin

Using Docker with Jenkins offers several advantages within our continuous integration and deployment(CI/CD) pipelines. Well, docker allows for containerization, so our applications and their dependencies can be bundled together in a lightweight, and isolated environment.

Here are a few points on why we should use Dockers with Jenkins Pipeline Jobs:

Easy Environment Setup: Docker provides a consistent and stable environment for doing our build, test, and deployment processes. With Docker, we can package our application and its dependencies into a container, ensuring that it runs consistently across different environments wheater QA or Dev, or Production.

Scalability: Docker will enable easy scaling of our Jenkins infrastructure. We can create and manage multiple Jenkins docker containers as agents to distribute the workloads and handle increased job demands efficiently.

Isolation and Resource Efficiency: Each Jenkins job can be executed in its own Docker container, providing isolation from other jobs in our Jenkins server. This isolation ensures that any changes or dependencies required by a specific job won't impact others. Additionally, Docker allows you to make optimal use of system resources by allocating them precisely to each container.

Faster Build and Test Cycles: Docker's are lightweight in nature and as such will have fast startup time, this contributes to faster build and test cycles. With Docker, you can easily spin up multiple containers, run tests, and tear them down quickly, leading to improved overall development speed and productivity.

Reproducible Builds: Docker enables reproducible builds by encapsulating the application code, dependencies, and environment configuration within a container. This ensures that the build process remains consistent, regardless of the underlying infrastructure.

Simplified Deployment: Docker containers can be easily deployed to various environments, including QA or development, staging, and production. This simplifies the deployment process and helps ensure that the application runs consistently across different environments, regardless of the underlying infrastructure.

In this following video let's see how to use docker with Jenkins Pipeline Jobs. Note that you will need to install docker in the host where you will be running the job.

Thank you! Cheers!