⚙️ Jenkins Installation

Jenkins Installation: Installing Jenkins is like setting up a dedicated workspace for your robot assistant — you build it once, and it runs all your automation from that point fo

Installing Jenkins is like setting up a dedicated workspace for your robot assistant — you build it once, and it runs all your automation from that point forward. Three options: install on your OS, run via Docker (fastest), or use the cloud. So why does the Docker route get recommended as 'fastest' instead of a native OS install? Because a native install entangles Jenkins with your machine's Java version, system packages, and file permissions — exactly the dependency-drift problem Docker images solve by bundling everything Jenkins needs into one disposable, reproducible unit, the same way a Maven `pom.xml` pins exact dependency versions instead of trusting whatever JARs happen to be on a developer's classpath. The QA-relevant risk: a Jenkins instance installed directly on a shared server tends to accumulate undocumented plugin versions and OS patches over months, until nobody can reproduce the exact environment that a 'passing' pipeline ran in six months ago.

Why Does java -version Verify the JDK That Jenkins Runs On?

java -version checks the JDK…

`java -version` prints the JDK version installed on your system — Jenkins will run on this same JDK, so it's checked BEFORE installation.

Expected output: Java 17 or 21…

The output should look like `"openjdk version "17.0.9""` — Jenkins REQUIRES Java 17 LTS or newer, so if an older version like Java 8 is installed, the installation will FAIL.

If Java is not installed…

If the command returns "command not found", Java is NOT installed at all — the user must download and install Java 17+ (LTS release) from adoptium.net manually; Jenkins installation does NOT do this AUTOMATICALLY.

Option 1: Install on Windows

Go to jenkins.io → Download → LTS (Long Term Support) → Windows. Download the .msi file (e.g., jenkins-2.440.3.msi).

Double-click the .msi file. The installer creates a Windows Service automatically. Default install: C:\Program Files\Jenkins\

Jenkins shows the "Getting Started" wizard on first launch.

Get the initial admin password from this file. Paste it into the Jenkins web setup.

Click "Install suggested plugins". Wait for all plugins to install.