Certified Jenkins Engineer

Extending Jenkins and Administration

Jenkins Plugins

Jenkins plugins are the building blocks that extend your CI/CD pipeline’s capabilities. With over 1,900 community-developed plugins, you can integrate source control, build tools, notifications, security scanners, and cloud services into your automation workflow.

Common Plugin Categories

CategoryPurposeExample Plugins
Source Control ManagementIntegrate with Git providersGit, GitHub Branch Source
Build ToolsAutomate builds with popular frameworksMaven Integration, Gradle Plugin
Quality & SecurityPerform static analysis, code coverage, and vulnerability scansSonarQube Scanner, OWASP Dependency-Check
NotificationsSend build and deployment alertsSlack Notification, Email Extension
Cloud IntegrationsManage resources on public cloudsAWS Steps, Google Cloud Build
Distributed BuildsScale workloads across multiple agentsDistributed Builds Plugin, Swarm Plugin

How Plugins Are Packaged

Jenkins plugins are distributed as JAR archives with .hpi (legacy) or .jpi (modern) extensions. Each package contains:

  • Plugin code (Java/Groovy classes)
  • Static resources (JavaScript, CSS)
  • Metadata (pom.xml, plugin.xml)

By default, Jenkins stores them in:

cd /var/lib/jenkins/plugins

Jenkins gives priority to a plugin if both .jpi and .hpi versions are present.

Installing Plugins

When you set up Jenkins for the first time, choose one of the following:

  1. Install Suggested Plugins
  2. Select Plugins Manually

Note

Choosing Install Suggested Plugins provides a curated set of essential plugins, making it ideal for newcomers.

The image shows a Jenkins plugin customization interface with options to install suggested plugins or select specific ones, along with a "Getting Started" section listing various plugins.

  • Git Integration
  • Pipeline (Workflow)
  • Maven Integration
  • Gradle Plugin
  • Docker Pipeline

Managing Installed Plugins

After installation, head to Manage Jenkins ➔ Manage Plugins to enable, disable, update, or uninstall extensions.

Warning

Removing a plugin can break dependent functionality. Always verify plugin dependencies before uninstalling.

The image shows the Jenkins plugin management interface, displaying a list of installed plugins with options to enable or disable them.

Plugin Update Center

The Updates tab shows available plugin updates. Regularly update to benefit from new features and security fixes.

Next Steps

  • Automate plugin installation via Jenkins Configuration as Code
  • Explore advanced plugins (Blue Ocean, Kubernetes, Terraform)
  • Integrate with external security scanners and compliance tools

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