Jenkins backup to Github/Gitlab/Git

 Hello Guys,

Its been a long time after which i am writing a blog on a automation recently i got a requirement about backup the Jenkins into a git and since after a quick search on internet i find it out there is no such plugin available i have to do it the hard way 

Requirement : Backup all Jenkins important config files (xml) in git on daily basis

Now there are two ways to do it 

•  Write a script and schedule it in cron to execute it on midnight 
• create a Jenkins job for this and let the backup script get executed using jenkins

I like the 2nd approach as it will give a transparency I did not need to login to a box just to check if my script is working or not also i can send an email if i wanted to if some thing goes wrong and its easy to keep an eye on if some thing goes wrong

So lets get started

create a jenkins job its a free style jenkins job

in the General config you will find the option

Restrict where this project can be run : in the label expression write master . 

Source code management : None or you can have it if you want to  check out your script from git every time you want to execute the job

Build Trigger : Build Periodically in the schedule write 0 0 * * * while means you need to execute it on daily basis

Build : in the build section select Execute shell 

copy paste the below shell script

#!/bin/bash

# Setup

#

# - Create a new Jenkins Job

# - Mark "None" for Source Control Management

# - Select the "Build Periodically" build trigger

#   - configure to run as frequently as you like

# - Add a new "Execute Shell" build step

#   - Paste the contents of this file as the command

# - Save

#  

# NOTE: before this job will work, you'll need to manually navigate to the $JENKINS_HOME directory 

# and do the initial set up of the git repository.  

# Make sure the appropriate remote is added and the default remote/branch set up.

#  

# Jenkins Configuraitons Directory

cd $JENKINS_HOME

# Add general configurations, job configurations, and user content

git add -- *.xml jobs/*/*.xml userContent/*

# only add user configurations if they exist

if [ -d users ]; then

    user_configs=`ls users/*/config.xml`

    if [ -n "$user_configs" ]; then

        git add $user_configs

    fi

fi

# mark as deleted anything that's been, well, deleted

to_remove=`git status | grep "deleted" | awk '{print $3}'`

if [ -n "$to_remove" ]; then

    git rm --ignore-unmatch $to_remove

fi

git commit -m "Automated Jenkins commit"

git push -q -u origin master

save the job 

Login to jenkins server from shell Now Go to the Jenkins Home directory usually its a /var/lib/jenkins

also make you the public key(/var/lib/jenkins/.ssh/id_rsa.pub) for jenkins user is added to the github so that it will be able to push it

# git init

# git add remote <github repo url where you need to backup your jenkins>

once done we are all set to test it. Let me know how it works for you