How can I set up Jenkins CI to use https on Windows?

Solution 1:

Go to your %JENKINS_HOME% and modify the jenkins.xml. Where you see --httpPort=8080 change it to --httpPort=-1 --httpsPort=8080 you can make the ports anything you want of course, but in my testing (a while ago, it may have changed) if you don't keep --httpPort=<something> then Jenkins will always use 8080. So if you simply change --httpPort=8080 to --httpsPort=8080, port 8080 will still use http.

Also, if you want to use your own certificate, there are some instructions at the bottom of this page.

http://wiki.jenkins-ci.org/display/JENKINS/Starting+and+Accessing+Jenkins

Solution 2:

Run:

keytool -genkey -keyalg RSA -keystore Jenkins.jks -alias [Name of website] -keysize 2048

Answer the questions remembering that First and last name is the website URL and should be lowercase. Example:

build.jenkins-ci.org

State or province cannot be abbreviated.

Run:

keytool -certreq -Keystore jenkins.jks -alias [Name of website] -file jenkins.csr -keysize 2048

Send Jenkins.csr to your cert provider and request a PKCS#7 cert which has a .p7b extension and starts with:

-----BEGIN PKCS #7 SIGNED DATA-----

Note: Trial certs are not normally available in .p7b format but you may be able to combine the .cer files using this tool which reported success but didn't work for me. (https://www.sslshopper.com/ssl-converter.html)

Run:

keytool -import -trustcacerts -file jenkins.p7b -keystore jenkins.jks -alias [Name of website]

Change the arguments node in Jenkins.xml to the following prespectivly.

<arguments>-Xrs -Xmx256m -Dhudson.lifecycle=hudson.lifecycle.WindowsServiceLifecycle -jar "%BASE%\jenkins.war" --httpPort=-1 --httpsPort=443 --httpsKeyStore="%BASE%\Cert\Jenkins.jks" --httpsKeyStorePassword=[Cert password from step 1]</arguments>

Troubleshooting:

• If Jenkins doesn't start read the last lines from Jenkins.err.log.
• If Jenkins didn't start because of an issue with Jenkins.xml, replace the – (weird Windows hyphen) characters with an actual - (ASCII hyphen).
• If Jenkins starts but the cert still reads as bad, make sure the [Name of website] is the actual URL without the https: example: https://build.jenkins-ci.org would be build.jenkins-ci.org.
• If that isn't the issue inspect the .jks file using KeyStore Explorer. The "Certificate Hierarchy" should show that each cert is nested in another; This is to illustrate the cert chain. If it shows the certs next to each other then it's not correct.
• If it won't start on a specific port, 443 for example, then verify IIS or another app isn't currently using the port.
• If you can see the site on the PC it's hosted on, but not another PC, then verify you aren't getting blocked by a firewall.