🚀 CI/CD Pipeline: Jenkins → Ansible → AWS EC2

An automated DevOps pipeline that integrates Jenkins with Ansible to provision and configure AWS EC2 instances through secure, multi-stage remote execution.

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📌 Overview

This project demonstrates an end-to-end deployment workflow:

• Pulls infrastructure/configuration code from GitLab
• Prepares a remote Ansible control node
• Executes Ansible playbooks against AWS EC2 instances
• Handles secure credential management across multiple hops

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⚙️ Pipeline Workflow

1. Source Code Sync

• Jenkins pulls latest configuration from GitLab
• Synchronizes project files to Ansible control node

2. Control Node Preparation

• Installs dependencies (Ansible, boto3) via Bash
• Ensures environment is ready for execution

3. Secure Credential Handling

• Injects SSH keys using Jenkins Credentials
• Applies strict permissions (chmod 400)
• Transfers AWS .pem key securely at runtime

4. Ansible Execution

• Runs playbooks from control node
• Configures AWS EC2 instances
• Ensures consistent infrastructure state

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🧰 Tech Stack

• Jenkins (CI/CD, Declarative Pipelines): I used Jenkins because it was the default tool at the workplace. I would've used GitHub Actions or GitLab CI.
• Ansible (Configuration Management)
• AWS EC2 (Cloud Compute)
• GitLab (Version Control)
• Bash (Automation Scripting)
• SSH Agent + Jenkins Credentials (Security)

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💡 Key Skills Demonstrated

• Multi-hop SSH authentication (Jenkins → Ansible → EC2)
• Pipeline as Code using Jenkinsfile (Groovy + Declarative syntax)
• Dynamic inventory handling for AWS EC2
• Linux automation for dependency installation
• Secure credential management and secret handling

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⚠️ Challenges & Fixes

• JSch authentication errors → Switched to native OpenSSH with sshagent
• Credential ID mismatches → Aligned Jenkins credentials with pipeline variables
• Interactive shell blocking (apt) → Used DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
• Missing SSH key at runtime → Injected .pem via withCredentials

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✅ Outcome

• ✔ Fully automated, one-click deployment pipeline
• ✔ Secure multi-stage credential handling
• ✔ Consistent EC2 configuration via Ansible
• ✔ Repeatable infrastructure provisioning workflow

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🧪 Takeaway

This project demonstrates how to integrate CI/CD pipelines with configuration management tools to achieve secure, automated infrastructure deployment. It highlights real-world challenges in authentication, remote execution, and environment setup—along with practical solutions for building reliable DevOps systems.

Evidence

Step 1: Jenkins Server

Step 2: Ansible Server

Step 3: Jenkins Configuration Pipeline

Step 4: Jenkins Adjust Credentials

Step 5: Test Connection with the 2 EC2 instances

Step 6: Successfull Run Pipeline