Jenkins JobDSL Creation Script

This script can be used to load Jenkins job definitions from a remote version control system (VCS).

It can be used in a seed job, which does a checkout of this repository and the job description.

When this script is triggered by such a seed job, it will load a simple JSON file, which can be used by developers to create/delete/update their jobs.

In combination with the k8s-jcasc-management it offers the possibility to save everything in your VCS as a backup and to restore a Jenkins completely from code. It also helps to have a history of jobs (when was a job created, when deleted…).

Example Jenkins seed job definition

A seed job can look like this:

job('seed_job') {
  label('jenkins-master')
  multiscm {
      git {
          remote {
              url('https://github.com/Ragin-LundF/jenkins-jobdsl-remote.git')
          }
          extensions {
            relativeTargetDirectory('jobdslscript')
          }
      }
      git {
          remote {
              url('https://github.com/myProjects/jenkins-job-definition.git')
              credentials("myCredentialsIdForMyPrivateRepository")
          }
          extensions {
            relativeTargetDirectory('jobdefinition')
          }
      }
  }
  steps {
      dsl {
          lookupStrategy('SEED_JOB')
          external('jobdslscript/src/JenkinsJobDslRemote.groovy')
      }
  }
  triggers {
      scm('* * * * *')
  }
}

Usage

First you have to create a seed job like in the example above.

Now you can define a job in a repository. The JSON must have the name jenkins-dsl-jobs.json. You can define as much jobs, as your Jenkins can handle inside one JSON file.

To have a better overview, it is recommended, that different teams have own job repositories.

The structure of the JSON looks like described in the example on buttom.

element name	type	subtype of	description
multiBranchJobs	array	none	main element for multibranch jobs. It contains a list of multibranch objects, which are defining the jobs.
pipelineJobs	array	none	main element for pipeline jobs. It contains a list of pipelineJob objects, which are defining the jobs.
jobName	string	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	defines the name of the job. (required)
jobDescription	string	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	defines the description of the job, which will be shown in Jenkins.
view	string	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	defines the view in which the job will be shown in Jenkins.
pipelineScriptPath	string	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	defines the name of the Jenkinsfile script. (required)
cronTrigger	string	PipelineJob	defines cron trigger, to force a build at defined times.
remoteTriggerUuid	string	PipelineJob	defines a UUID that can be used to trigger a job from external scripts.
remoteBranchName	string	PipelineJob	It defines a concrete branch, that should be used for this job.
git	object	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	object, that contains the GIT parameter. (required)
repositoryId	string	Git	defines a GIT repository ID. This is required by the SCM plugin. (required)
repositoryUrl	string	Git	defines the URL to the GIT repository. (required)
repositoryTrigger	string	Git	defines a trigger in cron format at which time the SCM plugin should check for new commits.
credentialsId	string	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	defines the credentialsId, which are available through Jenkins to access a private repository. It is also possible to set a GIT_CREDENTIALS_ID environment variable at the build slave. If this is defined in the JSON, it overwrites the env variable.
logRotator	object	MultibranchJob or PipelineJob	object, that contains the log rotation parameter. Can be set to null, if no logs should be rotated.
daysToKeep	integer	logRotator	defines how many days the artifact and history should be kept. Default: 10. Can be set to null for unlimited.
numToKeep	integer	logRotator	defines how many entries of the history should be kept. Default: 5. Can be set to null for unlimited.

Example of the JSON for the job definition

{
  "multiBranchJobs": [
    {
      "jobName": "myMultibranchJob",
      "jobDescription": "This is a test job",
      "view": "myJobs",
      "pipelineScriptPath": "Jenkinsfile",
      "git": {
        "repositoryId": "myMultibranchJobId",
        "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/myProjects/myMultibranchProject.git",
        "repositoryTrigger": "* * * * *",
        "credentialsId": "myGitCredentialsId"
      },
      "logRotator": {
        "daysToKeep": 10,
        "numToKeep": 5
      } 
    }
  ],
  "pipelineJobs": [
    {
      "jobName": "myPipelineJob",
      "jobDescription": "This is a test job",
      "pipelineScriptPath": "Jenkinsfile.groovy",
      "cronTrigger": "2 H * * *",
      "remoteTriggerUuid": "618f1dae-9475-41c3-9d17-381ff3c8684e",
      "remoteBranchName": "master",
      "git": {
        "repositoryId": "myPipelineJobId",
        "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/myProjects/myPipelineJobProject.git",
        "repositoryTrigger": "* * * * *",
        "credentialsId": "myGitCredentialsId"
      },
      "logRotator": {
        "daysToKeep": 10,
        "numToKeep": 5
      } 
    }
  ]
}