Deploying your project from GitHub to VPS using Jenkins for CI/CD

Introduction

In this quick tutorial, I’ll show you how I implemented CI/CD in my Nextjs 14 project on my new VPS server. This blog post is also valid for react projects or applications using nodejs. So you might want to ask, what is Jenkins or CI/CD? So you have pushed your fancy little project to your new VPS server, but you need a way to continually push updates/fixes to your application, that is where Jenkins come in for Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD).

HEADS UP: An ideal hardware requirement for this is a VPS with at least 2gb of ram. Anything lower than that? you may run into memory issues during build processes. This is a step by step tutorial, please follow religiously.

Getting a VPS server

If you are yet to purchase a VPS, you can quickly purchase from one these cloud providers. But I would recommend getting one (here). It’s cheap and very easy to get started. After signing up, your new VPS credentials (ip address and login) will be sent to your email address.

Initial Server Setup

First, SSH into your server

ssh root@your_server_ip

Create a New User

You may want to create a new user, if you prefer.

adduser your_username

Add user to sudo group

usermod -aG sudo your_username

Switch to the new user

su - your_username

Basic Security Setup

Update system packages

sudo apt update & upgrade -y

Install git and setup firewall

sudo apt install -y curl git ufw

Configuring the firewall to allow some ports we’ll need

sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 80
sudo ufw allow 8080
sudo ufw allow 443
sudo ufw enable

Install Node and PM2

We’ll be using nodejs for our Next.js deployment) and PM2 for production process management, you can read more about pm2 here

# Install Node.js using nvm (Node Version Manager)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
source ~/.bashrc

# Install Node.js LTS version
nvm install --lts

# Install PM2 globally
npm install -g pm2

Install & Configure Nginx

# Install Nginx
sudo apt install nginx -y

# Start Nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx

Let’s create nginx configuration for your app

sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-app

Add this to the configuration (replace your-domain.com with your actual domain name):

server {
    listen 80;
    server_name your-domain.com www.your-domain.com;

    location / {
        proxy_pass http://localhost:3000;
        proxy_http_version 1.1;
        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
        proxy_set_header Connection 'upgrade';
        proxy_set_header Host $host;
        proxy_cache_bypass $http_upgrade;
    }
}

Enable this configuration

sudo ln -s /etc/nginx/sites-available/your-app /etc/nginx/sites-enabled/
sudo nginx -t
sudo systemctl restart nginx

Setup Jenkins

Now let’s install Jenkins and other dependencies

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y

Install Java (It’s a Jenkins requirement)

sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless -y

Install Jenkins

# Add Jenkins repository
curl -fsSL https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable/jenkins.io-2023.key | sudo tee \
  /usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.adk > /dev/null

echo deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/jenkins-keyring.adk] \
  https://pkg.jenkins.io/debian-stable binary/ | sudo tee \
  /etc/apt/sources.list.d/jenkins.list > /dev/null

# Install Jenkins
sudo apt update
sudo apt install jenkins -y

Start and enable Jenkins

sudo systemctl start jenkins
sudo systemctl enable jenkins

Now we need to login to jenkins

Access Jenkins at http://your_server_ip:8080
Retrieve initial admin password:

sudo cat /var/lib/jenkins/secrets/initialAdminPassword

Install recommended plugins
Create an admin user
Create a file name called Jenkinsfile at the root in your GitHub repository and paste the below in it.

pipeline {
    agent any
    
    tools {
        nodejs "NodeJS"
    }
    
    stages {
        stage('Checkout') {
            steps {
                checkout scm
            }
        }
        
        stage('Install Dependencies') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm install'
            }
        }
        
        stage('Build') {
            steps {
                sh 'npm run build'
            }
        }
        
        stage('Deploy') {
            steps {
                sh '''
                    pm2 delete app_name|| true
                    pm2 start npm --name "app_name" -- start
                '''
            }
        }
    }
}

Configure GitHub Webhook

In your GitHub repository settings, go to Webhooks
Add a new webhook:
Payload URL: http://your_server_ip:8080/github-webhook/
Content type: application/json
Select events: Push and Pull Request events

Configure Jenkins Installation

For setting up Jenkins for our Next.js project, you'll need to configure several key components/plugins

Go to http://your_server_ip:8080. On you Jenkins dashboard, Go to "Manage Jenkins" > "Plugins"
Install NodeJS Plugin
To configure the nodejs installation, From the dashboard Go to "Manage Jenkins" > "Tools"
- Name it (e.g., "NodeJS")
- Choose a recent Node.js version
- Check "Install automatically"
For other plugins to Install, navigate to "Manage Jenkins" > "Plugins":

Install these:
- GitHub Integration Plugin
- SSH Agent Plugin (for deployment)

Create a New Pipeline Job
- Click "New Item"
- Choose "Pipeline"
- Configure:
  - Select “Pipeline"
  - Choose "Pipeline Script from SCM"
  - Select “SCM”
  - Choose “git”
  - Enter Repository URL
  - For Credentials, click “add” button
  - Enter your giithub username
  - The password should be your github token. see how to create one here (Ensure you check webhook while creating your token): (https://docs.github.com/en/authentication/keeping-your-account-and-data-secure/managing-your-personal-access-tokens)
  - Specify your production branch (main/master/production), whatever works for you.
  - Apply changes and save
Once you are sure everything is set up, now click on “build now”. This is will execute everything you have in the Jenkinsfile. You can check the “Console Output” for the steps it run.

Starting the Application

To view the Jenkins cloned project

cd /var/lib/jenkins/workspace

# View it's content
ls -1

Start the application

pm2 start npm --name "your_app_name"

Voila! Your app is now running and can be accessed at http://your_server_ip:3000

Conclusion

Thank you for reading to this point, I hope you were able to successfully configure and deploy your application. Keep building and deploying. Until next time, happy coding. ✌🏼
If you have questions, please feel free to drop them in the comments, I’ll do my best to send a response ASAP

Streamline Your Deployment Workflow with Jenkins, GitHub, and VPS Integration