Automating OpenSource App Deployment via Jenkins Pipelines & AWS Infrastructure

This repository documents the end-to-end automation of deploying the open-source PoolsApp using Jenkins pipelines and various AWS services. It simulates a real-world enterprise deployment setup with multi-stage CI/CD workflows, artifact management, infrastructure provisioning, and secrets handling.

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Project Structure

poolsapp-deployment/
├── src/
│   └── poolsapp/                         # Fork of the original PoolsApp source
│       ├── Pools-App-Backend/
│       ├── Pools-App-Frontend/
│       └── README.md                     # From original app (github/mrpool404)
│
├── jenkins-pipelines/                    # Jenkinsfiles for various CI/CD stages
│   ├── 00-create-target-ec2.Jenkinsfile
│   ├── 01-build-and-store-artifact.Jenkinsfile
│   ├── 02-deploy-artifact-to-target-ec2.Jenkinsfile
│   └── AWS-secrets-manager-integration.md    # How Jenkins uses Secrets Manager
│
├── aws/                                  # AWS infrastructure automation
│   ├── ec2-for-jenkins-prep-notes/       # Manual config & EC2 instructions
│   │   ├── cronjob-setup-for-jenkins-location.md
│   │   ├── jenkins-ec2-instance-prep-note.md
│   │   └── update-jenkins-url.sh
│   ├── ec2-rbac-and-roles.md             # IAM roles and trust relationships
│   ├── security-groups.md                # SG rules and justifications
│   └── terraform/                        # Terraform IaC for EC2, S3 setup
│       ├── s3-bucket-creation.tf
│       └── target-ec2-nginx-mongo.tf
│
├── triggers/                             # Triggering mechanism for pipelines
│   └── webhook-trigger-example.json      # Optional: payload for webhook simulation
│
└── README.md                             # This documentation

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Objective

The main goals of this project:

• Automate end-to-end deployment of the PoolsApp.
• Use Jenkins to manage multi-stage CI/CD pipelines.
• Implement Infrastructure as Code using Terraform.
• Secure sensitive credentials via AWS Secrets Manager.
• Simulate a real-world multi-environment enterprise DevOps workflow.
• Minimize human interaction in the deployment process.

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CI/CD Pipelines Overview

1. 00-create-target-ec2.Jenkinsfile

Purpose:
Provision a target EC2 instance using Terraform.

Actions:

• Initializes and applies Terraform configuration (target-ec2-nginx-mongo.tf).
• Sets up NGINX and MongoDB on the EC2 instance.

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2. 01-build-and-store-artifact.Jenkinsfile

Purpose:
Build and package the application, then store the artifact in an S3 bucket.

Actions:

• Fetches source code from src/poolsapp.
• Builds and zips the backend/frontend components.
• Uploads the zipped artifact to an S3 bucket.

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3. 02-deploy-artifact-to-target-ec2.Jenkinsfile

Purpose:
Deploy the zipped artifact to the EC2 target server.

Actions:

• Downloads the artifact from S3.
• SSHs into the EC2 instance.
• Unzips and deploys the app.
• Restarts necessary services (e.g., Node.js, NGINX).

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Environment Prep Notes

Reference setup notes and scripts:

• jenkins-ec2-instance-prep-note.md – Jenkins EC2 setup instructions
• update-jenkins-url.sh – Script to update Jenkins URL in jobs
• cronjob-setup-for-jenkins-location.md – Cron setup for Jenkins persistence or watchdog

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Triggering Pipelines

Webhooks or manual triggers are supported.

Recommended setup: GitHub → Jenkins Multibranch Pipeline

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Branching Strategy

Branch	Environment	Purpose
main	Production	Live deployment
dev	Development	Active development and testing

Jenkins pipeline logic can be configured to deploy based on the branch that triggers the build.

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Security & Access Control

Security is central to this setup, and multiple layers are employed:

• Secrets Manager Integration: Jenkins pipelines retrieve secrets such as MongoDB credentials and IAM role ARNs securely at runtime.
• EC2 Role-Based Access Control: Describes IAM roles, trust policies, and permission boundaries between Jenkins, Terraform, and AWS resources.
• Security Groups Overview: Inbound/outbound traffic rules for Jenkins and app EC2 instances, with justifications for each rule.

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Secrets Handling

All credentials (e.g., DB passwords, tokens) are stored securely in AWS Secrets Manager and accessed during Jenkins builds.

➡️ See full documentation: AWS Secrets Integration

Example usage within pipeline:

environment {
    MONGO_SECRET = sh(script: "aws secretsmanager get-secret-value --secret-id mongo-app-creds --query 'SecretString' --output text", returnStdout: true).trim()