Starting the Jenkins docker container

Jenkins is run 24/7 as a service on an EC2 instance so it should seldom be manually started.

However, if you really need to do so:

1. Get public DNS from https://eu-west-2.console.aws.amazon.com/ec2/v2/home?region=eu-west-2#Instances

2.  ssh -i path/to.pem [email protected]
   

3.  docker container run \
    -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
    --name jenkins-blueocean \
    --restart always \
    --detach \
    --network jenkins \
    --publish 8080:8080 \
    --publish 50000:50000 \
    jenkinsci/blueocean
   

Explanation of docker container run options

• -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock
  • Mounts the docker socket on the host to the Jenkins container, allowing it to create sibling containers instead of child containers (aka 'Docker in Docker')
  • See https://jpetazzo.github.io/2015/09/03/do-not-use-docker-in-docker-for-ci/
• --name jenkins-blueocean
  • Sets the Docker container name
• --restart always
  • Always restart the container if it stops. If it is manually stopped, it is restarted only when Docker daemon restarts or the container itself is manually restarted.
  • If you manually stop a container, its restart policy is ignored until the Docker daemon restarts or the container is manually restarted. This is another attempt to prevent a restart loop.
• --detach
  • Runs the container in the background so the running Docker log is not output in the terminal window.
• --network jenkins
  • Connects the container to a network (already created earlier) named jenkins.
  • Used for communication between containers.
• --publish x:y
  • Publishes a container port to a host machine port.
  • The first number x represents the port on the host while the last y represents the container’s port.