In the last decade, significant advancements have been made in the development of Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) tools. The evolution of software development and operations (DevOps) technologies has led to a rapid increase in demand for CI/CD tools. Existing solutions are constantly improving, striving to keep pace with the times, and new versions are being released. In the world of Software Quality Assurance (QA), a multitude of new products constantly emerges. With such a wealth of choices, selecting the right tools can be a challenging task.
Among all existing CI/CD tools, there are two projects that definitely deserve attention from anyone searching for something in this field. This refers to Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD, which is part of the GitLab platform. Jenkins has more stars on GitHub. The GitLab repository on gitlab.com has garnered just over stars. When comparing the popularity of the repositories, it becomes clear that Jenkins has received 8 times more stars than the platform that includes GitLab CI/CD. However, when selecting a CI/CD tool, this is far from the only indicator to consider. There are many others, which explains why Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD often rank very closely in various comparisons.
For instance, let's take data from the G2 platform, which aggregates reviews of various products and the ratings given by users. Here, the average rating , based on 288 reviews, is 4.3 stars. As for it has 270 reviews, and the average rating for this tool is 4.4 stars. We would not be mistaken in stating that Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD compete with each other on equal terms. Interestingly, the Jenkins project emerged in 2011 and has since been a favorite tool among testers. Meanwhile, the GitLab CI/CD project, launched in 2014, has secured its very high position thanks to the advanced capabilities offered by this platform.
When discussing the popularity of Jenkins compared to other similar platforms, we note that when we published an article comparing Travis CI and Jenkins, we conducted a survey. 85 users participated in this survey. Respondents were asked to choose the CI/CD tool they preferred the most. 79% chose Jenkins, 5% chose Travis CI, and 16% indicated they preferred other tools.
Survey Results
Among other CI/CD tools, GitLab CI/CD was mentioned most frequently.
If you are serious about DevOps, you need to carefully select the right tools, considering the project's specifics, budget, and other requirements. To help you make the right choice, we are going to analyze Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD. We hope this will assist you in making an informed decision.
Introduction to Jenkins
is a widely known, flexible CI/CD tool designed to automate many tasks related to software projects. Jenkins is entirely written in Java and is released under the MIT license. It has a powerful set of features aimed at automating tasks related to building, testing, deploying, integrating, and releasing software. This tool can be used on various operating systems, including macOS, Windows, and many distributions of Linux, such as OpenSUSE, Ubuntu, and Red Hat. There are Jenkins installation packages available for different OSs; this tool can also be installed in Docker and any system that has a JRE (Java Runtime Environment).
The Jenkins developers created another project, Jenkins X, which is designed to operate in a Kubernetes environment. Jenkins X integrates Helm, the Jenkins CI/CD server, Kubernetes, and other tools intended for creating CI/CD pipelines that adhere to DevOps best practices. For instance, it utilizes GitOps.
In addition to its many advantages, Jenkins scripts are well-structured, understandable, and easy to read. The Jenkins team has created around 1000 plugins that facilitate interactions between Jenkins and various technologies. The scripts can integrate authentication systems, allowing connections to various closed systems.
During the operation of the Jenkins pipeline, you can observe what happens at each step, including whether certain stages of the process completed successfully or not. You can monitor all of this, indeed, without using any graphical interface, but by utilizing terminal capabilities.
Features of Jenkins
Among the well-known features of Jenkins are its ease of setup, high level of automation for various operations, and excellent documentation. When it comes to solving DevOps tasks, Jenkins is considered a very reliable tool, which generally does not require close monitoring of the entire project processing. This is not the case with other CI/CD tools. Let’s discuss some of the most important capabilities of Jenkins.
▍1. Free, open source, support for multiple platforms
Jenkins can run on macOS, Windows, and Linux platforms. It can also function in a Docker environment, allowing for uniform and rapid execution of automated tasks. Additionally, this tool can run as a servlet in Java-supported containers such as Apache Tomcat and GlassFish. The installation of Jenkins is well documented. .
▍2. Extensive plugin ecosystem
The Jenkins plugin ecosystem is considerably more advanced compared to the plugin ecosystems of other CI/CD tools. Currently, there are over 1500 plugins available for Jenkins. These plugins are aimed at addressing a wide range of tasks, allowing for the automation of various projects. The abundance of free plugins means that users of Jenkins do not have a pressing need to purchase expensive paid plugins. There is the possibility of integrating Jenkins with numerous DevOps tools. with many DevOps tools.
▍3. Easy installation and setup
Jenkins is quite straightforward to install and configure. The system update process is also very convenient. Here, again, it is worth mentioning the quality of the documentation, as it provides answers to many different questions related to the installation and configuration of Jenkins.
▍4. Friendly community
As mentioned, Jenkins is an open-source project with an ecosystem that includes a vast number of plugins. A large community of users and developers has formed around Jenkins, contributing to the project's development. The community is one of the factors that drives Jenkins's progress.
▍5. Availability of REST API
When working with Jenkins, you can utilize the REST API, which expands the system's capabilities. The API for remote system access is available in three formats: XML, JSON with JSONP support, and Python. A documentation page that reveals details about working with the Jenkins REST API.
▍6. Support for Parallel Task Execution
Jenkins supports parallelization of DevOps tasks. It can be easily integrated with relevant tools, allowing you to receive notifications about task execution results. You can speed up code testing by organizing parallel builds of the project using different virtual machines.
▍7. Support for Distributed Environments
Jenkins allows for organizing distributed builds using multiple computers. This capability is applicable in large projects and follows a scheme where there is one main Jenkins server and several subordinate machines. Subordinate machines can also be used when it is necessary to organize project testing in different environments. These capabilities set Jenkins apart from other similar projects.
Introducing GitLab
can be considered one of the newest and most favored tools among DevOps engineers. This free open-source tool is integrated into the version control system GitLab. The GitLab platform has a community version that supports repository management, issue tracking tools, code review organization, and mechanisms aimed at documentation creation. Companies can install GitLab locally, linking this system with Active Directory and LDAP servers to facilitate secure user authorization and authentication.
A video guide that will help you learn how to create CI/CD pipelines using GitLab CI/CD capabilities.
Initially, GitLab CI/CD was released as an independent project, but in 2015, this toolkit was integrated into GitLab 8.0. A standalone GitLab CI/CD server can support over 25,000 users. Based on such servers, systems with high availability can be created.
GitLab CI/CD and the main GitLab project are written in Ruby and Go. They are released under the MIT license. GitLab CI/CD, in addition to standard CI/CD tool functionalities, also supports additional features related to job scheduling, for example.
Integrating GitLab CI/CD into a project is very simple. With GitLab CI/CD, the project code processing is divided into stages, each of which can consist of several tasks executed in a specific order. The tasks can be finely tuned.
Tasks can be executed in parallel. After configuring the sequence of stages and tasks, the CI/CD pipeline is ready for operations. You can monitor its progress by tracking the task statuses. As a result, using GitLab CI/CD is very convenient, perhaps more so than with other similar tools.
Features of GitLab CI/CD and GitLab
GitLab CI/CD is one of the most popular DevOps tools. The project stands out for its high-quality documentation, and its functionalities are easy and convenient to use. If you are not yet familiar with GitLab CI/CD, the following list of the tool's capabilities will give you a general idea of what to expect from it. It is worth noting that many of these capabilities relate to the GitLab platform itself, into which GitLab CI/CD is integrated.
▍1. Popularity
GitLab CI/CD is a relatively new tool that has found widespread application. It has gradually become an extremely popular CI/CD tool used for automated testing and deployment of software. It is easy to configure. Additionally, it is a free CI/CD tool built into the GitLab platform.
▍2. Support for GitLab Pages and Jekyll
Jekyll is a static site generator that can be used within the GitLab Pages system to create websites based on GitLab repositories. The system takes the source materials and generates a ready-to-use static website from them. You can manage the appearance and functionalities of such websites by editing the file _config.yml, used by Jekyll.
▍3. Project Planning Capabilities
The ability to plan project stages enhances convenience in tracking issues and their grouping. This allows for managing work organization on projects and scheduling their execution for specific dates.
▍4. Automatic Scaling of CI Runners
With automatic scaling of runners responsible for executing specific tasks, significant savings can be achieved on server rental costs. This is crucial, especially in environments where project testing is conducted in parallel. Furthermore, it is important for large projects consisting of multiple repositories.
▍5. Issue Tracking Tools
Powerful GitLab issue tracking features have made this platform popular among many open-source projects. GitLab CI/CD allows for parallel testing of different branches of code, with test results conveniently analyzed in the system's interface. This advantageously distinguishes GitLab CI/CD from Jenkins.
▍6. Repository Access Restrictions
The GitLab platform supports access restrictions to repositories. For instance, those collaborating on a project in a specific repository can be granted permissions corresponding to their roles. This is particularly relevant for corporate projects.
▍7. Active Community Support
An active community has formed around GitLab, fostering the development of this platform and its tools, especially GitLab CI/CD. The deep integration of GitLab CI/CD and GitLab, among other things, simplifies finding answers to questions that arise while working with GitLab CI/CD.
▍8. Support for Various Version Control Systems
GitLab CI/CD is a system that can work with code not only hosted in GitLab repositories. For example, code can be stored in a GitHub repository, while the CI/CD pipeline can be organized based on GitLab using GitLab CI/CD.
Comparison of Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD
Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD are both excellent tools, each capable of ensuring the smooth operation of a CI/CD pipeline. However, when compared, it becomes clear that while they resemble each other in many ways, they differ in some aspects.
Specification
Jenkins
GitLab CI/CD
Open or Closed Code
Open source
Open source
Installation
Required.
Not required, as this is a built-in feature of the GitLab platform.
Unique Features
Plugin Support.
Deep integration into the version control system.
Support
Not available.
Available.
Installation and setup
No difficulties arise.
No difficulties arise.
Self-deployment of the system.
This is the only way to use the system.
Supported.
Creating CI/CD pipelines
Supported, uses Jenkins Pipeline.
Supported.
Monitoring application performance
Not available.
Available.
Ecosystem
There are over 1000 plugins.
The system is evolving within GitLab.
API
Supports an advanced API system.
Offers API for deeper integration into projects.
JavaScript Support
Available.
Available.
Integration with other tools
Integration with other tools and platforms (Slack, GitHub) is supported.
A variety of means for integration with third-party systems, particularly with GitHub and Kubernetes.
Code quality control
Supported - with the help of the SonarQube plugin and other plugins.
Supported.
Differences between Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD
Having described and compared Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD, let’s focus on the differences between these DevOps tools. Understanding these differences will help those who prefer one of these tools over the other.
- GitLab CI/CD can fully control Git repositories. This includes branch management of repositories and some other capabilities. On the other hand, while Jenkins can work with repositories, it does not provide the same level of control over them as GitLab CI/CD.
- Jenkins is a free open-source project. Those who choose it deploy it themselves. GitLab CI/CD, however, is included as part of the GitLab platform, making it a ready-to-use solution.
- GitLab CI/CD supports advanced task management tools that operate at the project level. This aspect of Jenkins is less developed.
Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD: Strengths and Weaknesses
Now you have a certain understanding of Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD. To help you better familiarize yourself with these tools, let’s discuss their strengths and weaknesses. We trust that you have already made a decision about which tool you need. We hope this section will help you to verify your choice.
▍Strengths of Jenkins
- A large number of plugins.
- Complete control over the tool installation.
- Simple debugging of runners.
- Easy setup of nodes.
- Simple code deployment.
- Very good credential management system.
- Flexibility and versatility.
- Support for various programming languages.
- The system is intuitive and easy to understand.
▍Weaknesses of Jenkins
- Using plugins can lead to complications.
- In small projects, the time spent on configuring Jenkins can become disproportionately high.
- Lack of overall analytical insights into CI/CD pipelines.
▍Strengths of GitLab CI/CD
- Good integration with Docker.
- Simple scaling of runners.
- Parallel execution of tasks that are part of the CI/CD pipeline stages.
- Using a directed acyclic graph model for task relationship setup.
- High level of scalability due to the ability to execute runners in parallel.
- Ease of adding new tasks.
- Simple conflict resolution.
- Reliable security system.
▍Weaknesses of GitLab CI/CD
- Each task requires a description, and to upload/download artifacts.
- The results of merging branches cannot be tested before the actual merge.
- In describing CI/CD pipeline stages, individual phases cannot be highlighted yet.
Summary
Both Jenkins and GitLab CI/CD have strengths and weaknesses. The choice of which one to use depends on the needs and characteristics of the specific project. Each of the CI/CD tools discussed today has certain features, although they are designed to solve the same problem. Jenkins is a standalone tool, whereas GitLab CI/CD is part of a platform designed for collaborative code development.
When choosing a CI/CD system, it is important to consider not only its capabilities but also the associated costs and what DevOps engineers are accustomed to working with.
Which CI/CD tools do you use?
Source: habr.com
