I am wanting to automate some homelab things. Specifically deploying new and updating existing docker containers.
I would like to publish my entire docker compose stacks (minus env vars) onto a public Git repo, and then using something to select a specific compose from that, on a specific branch (so I can have a physical seperate server for testing) automatically deploy a container.
I thought of Jenkins, as it is quite flexable, and I am very willing to code it together, but are there any tools like this that I should look into instead? I’ve heard Ansible is not ideal for docker compose.
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I did Jenkins for a while. It works, but it was built before the world of containers and is now fairly antiquated. Most extensions are no longer maintained.
Look into forgejo, and then use actions to auto deploy
Isn’t Jenkins a continuous integration system? I’d think that you’d want a configuration management system (like ansible) if you’re not trying to set up CI infrastructure.
I’ve heard Ansible is not ideal for docker compose.
Not sure what you heard, but I use available to push docker compose files to VMs and publish containers without issue. Works nicely.
I usually create systemd service files to start/stop the compose jobs and have ansible set it all up.
I use Ansible to deploy a bunch of containers with intradependencies (shared volumes, networks and settings). One of the containers is homemade with the source pulled from codeberg. Variables are kept in a separate file and passwords in an encrypted one and the whole thing is in a private repo. It is quite flexible.
When I started out converting from compose, I literally asked Copilot for “this, but in Ansible”, which got me pretty far.
I’ve used Ansible to deploy docker compose and it worked pretty well. You will have to do some learning if you aren’t familiar with it, but I’d say it’s worth it.
Like others, I would not recommend Jenkins.
Why? Tools for this exist. Jenkins is not that tool.
Like what?
People are naming them all over this thread. Use the right tool for the right job, don’t try to shoehorn a function for a dead-ass and dying tool into a different use-case just because you know it.
Fair. Thank you
Exactly. Look into Komodo instead
You wanna know a fun way to do this?
GitHub (and I think Gitlab too) supports you running their runner within your own infra. It’s literally a binary that needs permissions and space. Then, you can tell your git repo to use that runner to run docker compose and as part of the “build” process, deploy you container to the same or an in-network machine.
This is not secure, it’s probably going to involve a lot of hard coding of local IPs or server names etc. But you can make it work.
I use this way to get a Win11 PC to run some regular containers on itself. Works like a charm.
