What is our primary use case?
Jenkins is basically used as a CI/CD tool, wherein you can integrate multiple tools that are part of your delivery pipeline. Jenkins is basically a controller for your delivery. For example, what happens, when it happens, and in what sequence it happens can be controlled by Jenkins.
What is most valuable?
Jenkins is a very mature product.
It has got a lot of support as far as integrating Jenkins with other tools is concerned.
There are a lot of plugins as well if you want to enable any feature or any automation as part of your delivery pipeline. There are a lot of plugins, actually, which are available both as part of an open-source as well as a commercial ecosystem.
It is easy to configure and easy to scale as well.
The initial setup is easy.
What needs improvement?
The enterprise version is less stable than the open-source version.
Security is one area that is lacking a bit. You need to have that extra work done when you are adopting Jenkins. There are some features here and there, however, if security overall can be improved, that would be really great.
For how long have I used the solution?
I've used the solution for more than ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable. It's reliable. There are no bugs or glitches and it doesn't crash or freeze.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It is scalable. Jenkins can be implemented in a master play mode. You can have multiple masters and you can have multiple notes on which you can execute your jobs, which makes it very scalable.
We have about 500 people using Jenkins.
How are customer service and support?
We've never contacted external support. We've only dealt with internal support. Internal support is very well educated in terms of supporting Jenkins and other tools of concern. I'm very satisfied.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
Jenkins was the first product I used. Apart from Jenkins, there are other tools I've used, like Bamboo. Then, specific to the cloud, we have other DevOps services, and other pipelines. I have used multiple options. Still, I'm kind of a Jenkins fan. I definitely recommend Jenkins over other tools.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup is very easy. It's not overly complex or difficult. You can enable a Jenkins pipeline, I would say, and a day, or less than a day.
We have about ten staff members that can handle deployment and maintenance. There are managers, developers, and DevOps teams, and then there are SYSops, admins, and DBAs. All these factors are there.
What about the implementation team?
We handled the implementation ourselves, in-house. We didn't need any integrators or consultants.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
One good thing about Jenkins is there are two flavors. One is open-source and the other is the commercial or the enterprise edition. The open-source version is pretty stable. For the security concern, you can add your own security-related intervention to make it that much more secure.
For the enterprise edition, you have a cloud-based which actually provides the commercial Jenkins version. Apart from security, they have come up with upgraded versions of Jenkins, for example, Jenkins Access Control and Jenkins Two-point Access Control. You can get added all kinds of features and the ease of implementing or managing your product. As I mentioned, Jenkins open-source is actually more stable and mature if you compare it to the enterprise version.
What other advice do I have?
The solution can be on-premises or in the cloud.
I'd recommend the solution to others.
I'd rate it ten out of ten.
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.