Project 1: Jenkins CI/CD Pipeline with GitHub Webhook Integration for Docker Application Deployment on AWS EC2

Welcome back, DevOps Enthusiasts! After a productive break, I'm thrilled to resume my 60 Days DevOps Challenge and this Day 59 with Project 1, where we implement a CI/CD pipeline using Jenkins, Docker, and GitHub webhooks to deploy a web application on AWS EC2 instances. This hands-on project demonstrates a powerful automation workflow that mirrors real-world deployment pipelines.

Objective

To build and automate a deployment pipeline that:

• Pulls code from a GitHub repository

• Builds a Docker image

• Runs the image as a container on an EC2 instance

• Triggers automatically via GitHub webhook on every push

Step-by-Step Implementation

1. Launch Your Jenkins EC2 Instance

• Instance Name: project-1

• AMI: Ubuntu

• Instance Type: t2.micro

• Authentication: Key pair login (project_key.pem)

• Security Groups: Allow HTTP, HTTPS, SSH (port 22), Jenkins (port 8080), and App (port 8001)

• 

  Launc the instance and wait until your instance ready

• Click on Connect

  Copy the

2. SSH into Your EC2

Open CMD/Terminal in your PC

Navigate to your project_key.pem file location and run: (e.g.- C:\Users\Nitin Dhiman\Downloads)

Copy this code to your terminal

chmod 400 docker.pem #To make this file executable
ssh -i "docker.pem" ubuntu@<your-public-ip>

4. Install Jenkins

Follow the official Jenkins installation guide. This will also install Java.

To install Jenkins, first we need to install Java in ubuntu EC2 instance

Installation of Java

Jenkins requires Java to run, yet not all Linux distributions include Java by default. Additionally, not all Java versions are compatible with Jenkins.

There are multiple Java implementations which you can use. OpenJDK is the most popular one at the moment, we will use it in this guide.

Update the Debian apt repositories, install OpenJDK 21, and check the installation with the commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install fontconfig openjdk-21-jre
java -version

Output:
Openjdk version "21.0.3" 2024-04-16
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.3+11-Debian-2)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (build 21.0.3+11-Debian-2, mixed mode, sharing)

Jenkins Weekly release

A new release is produced weekly to deliver bug fixes and features to users and plugin developers. It can be installed from the debian apt repository.

sudo wget -O /etc/apt/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc \
  https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian/jenkins.io-2023.key
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.asc]" \
  https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian binary/ | sudo tee \
  /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list > /dev/null
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install jenkins

5. Install Docker

sudo apt update
sudo apt install docker.io -y

Verify installations:

jenkins --version
docker --version

Add Docker to the user group for both jenkins and the local user.

sudo usermod -aG docker jenkins
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

#reboot your instance
sudo reboot

6. Open Jenkins in Browser

Add inbound rules for ports 8080 and 8001. Then access Jenkins via:

http://<public-ip>:8080

Unlock Jenkins:

cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword

• Install Suggested Plugins

  

• Create First Admin User (with your credentials) & Save and Continue

  

  

  

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CI/CD Pipeline Setup

7. Create Jenkins Project

• Go to Jenkins Dashboard > New Item

• Name: react_django_demo_app

• Type: Freestyle Project

  

  

8. Configure GitHub Integration

• Source Code Management: Git

• Add your GitHub repository URL

• Add your Git repo’s branch name to build

  

  

  

9. Add Build Script (Execute Shell)

10. Trigger Your First Build

• Click on Build Now

• View logs via Console Output

• Visit: http://<public-ip>:8001

  

  

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GitHub Webhook Automation

11. Configure Build Triggers

• Build Trigger: GitHub hook trigger for GitScm polling

  

12. Add Webhook to GitHub Repo

GitHub Repo > Settings > Webhooks > Add Webhook

• Payload URL: http://<public-ip>:8080/github-webhook/ (http://3.110.167.104:8080/github-webhook/)

• Content Type: application/json

• Trigger Event: Just the push event

  

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Final Outcome

Now, every time you push code to your GitHub repo:

• Jenkins pipeline is triggered automatically

• Docker image is rebuilt

• Updated container is deployed on EC2

• Your application reflects the latest code changes instantly

• 

  

Key Takeaways

• GitHub + Jenkins + Docker creates a powerful CI/CD flow

• Webhook automation eliminates manual deployment steps

• Running on EC2 ensures real-world deployment simulation