Building a Jenkins Slave Node

In our environment we use Jenkins CI for doing continuous integration of developer code. Setting up Jenkins server is plenty easy, but getting a node up and running has some road bumps. Here’s the process of getting any Windows7 desktop to perform builds of .NET4 code:

Install Required Build Tools

• Java JDK
• .NET 4 Framework
• SDK for Windows 7 & .NET4 (you only need the .NET Development components)
• Visual Studio 2010 Shell
• Visual Studio Web Development Projects
• MVC
• All Microsoft Updates (be sure to use Microsoft Update, not Windows Update so that it’ll update all the components you just installed)

Once you’ve got all that installed, copy aspnet_merge.exe from C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.1\Bin\NETFX 4.0 Tools to C:\Program Files (x86)\MSBuild\Microsoft\WebDeployment\v10.0\

 

Create Node in Jenkins

Perform the following tasks from the new Jenkins slave

1. Log into Jenkins, click Manage Jenkins, Manage Nodes, New Node
2. Give it a name, and choose Dumb Slave
3. Set up options for you new slave
   1. Description: optional
   2. # of executors: number of processors on the slave
   3. Remote FS Root: where Jenkins will store data (try to use a second drive/partition so you don’t accidentally fill up the boot partition.
   4. Labels: separate labels with spaces, useful for designating what projects can be compiled on each system – ex. “.NET4″ “Java”, or for grouping systems. Jobs can be configured to use only nodes with appropriate labels.
   5. Usage: whatever you prefer
   6. Launch Method: Launch Slave agents via Java Web Start
   7. Availability: whatever you prefer
4. Click the name of the slave you just created
5. Click the Launch button
   1. Accept security warnings to run plugin
   2. A tiny window will pop up that says “Connected”
   3. Click File > Install as a Windows service if you want it to become available on restart.

The system should now appear in Jenkins as an online slave.

Personal and Professional Development

So, my employer finally hired a director for our department. After two years without anything resembling leadership, we have someone who has the skills and authority to drive significant change in my office.

Finally.

One part of this is working with everyone in the office to improve their personal and professional development to enable all of us to grow into better people and employees. He’s definitely into the mentoring thing.

I’ve always considered myself a good employee, but I have some shortcomings as far as personality goes. I’m not especially good at making personal connections quickly with people at work. I get along with everyone on a professional level and am polite and courteous, but do not put a lot of effort into converting co-workers into friends and don’t put any stock in playing the politics games.

The good part is that I’m self-aware. I know that I have this problem and I know that it doesn’t help me. It wasn’t until my boss pointed it out to me, though, that I realized it was actually hurting me professionally. Especially here, where there is so much emphasis on “playing the game.”

So, I’m working on that. Not the “playing the game” part so much, but the making personal connections part.

And I’m not just doing it because it will be better for me professionally, but because I know it’ll make my personal life easier and better, too.