The final phase for the External Fingerprint Storage Project has come to an end and to finish off, we release one more fingerprint storage plugin: the PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin! This post highlights the progress made during phase-3. To understand what the project is about and the past progress, please refer to the phase-1 post and the phase-2 post. Introducing the PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin Why PostgreSQL? There were several reasons why it made sense to build another reference implementation, especially backed by PostgreSQL. Redis is a key-value storage, and hence stores the fingerprints as blobs. The PostgreSQL plugin defines a relational structure for fingerprints. This offers a more powerful way to query the database for fingerprint information. Fingerprint facets can store extra information inside the fingerprints, which cannot be queried in Redis directly. PostgreSQL plugin allows powerful (indexing) and efficient querying strategies which can even query the facet metadata. Another reason for building this plugin was to provide a basis for other relational database plugins to be built. It also validates the flexibility and design of our external fingerprint storage API. Since PostgreSQL is a traditional disk storage database, it is more suitable for systems storing a massive number of fingerprints. Among relational databases, PostgreSQL is quite popular, has extensive support, and is open-source. We expect the new implementation to drive more adoption, and prove to be beneficial to the community. Installation: The plugin can be installed using the experimental update center. Follow along the following steps after running Jenkins to download and install the plugin: Select Manage Jenkins Select Manage Plugins Go to Advanced tab Configure the Update Site URL as: https://updates.jenkins.io/experimental/update-center.json Click on Submit, and then press the Check Now button. Go to Available tab. Search for PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin and check the box along it. Click on Install without restart The plugin should now be installed on the system. Usage Once the plugin has been installed, you can configure the PostgreSQL server details by following the steps below: Select Manage Jenkins Select Configure System Scroll to the section Fingerprints and choose PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage in the dropdown for Fingerprint Storage Engine. Configure the following parameters to connect to your PostgreSQL instance: Host - Enter hostname where PostgreSQL is running Port - Specify the port on which PostgreSQL is running SSL - Click if SSL is enabled Database Name - Specify the database name inside the PostgreSQL instance to be used. Please note that the database will not be created by the plugin, the user has to create the database. Connection Timeout - Set the connection timeout duration in seconds. Socket Timeout - Set the socket timeout duration in seconds. Credentials - Configure authentication using username and password to the PostgreSQL instance. Use the Test PostgreSQL Connection button to verify that the details are correct and Jenkins is able to connect to the PostgreSQL instance. [IMPORTANT] When configuring the plugin for the first time, it is highly important to press the Perform PostgreSQL Schema Initialization button. It will automatically perform schema initialization and create the necessary indexes. The button can also be used in the case the database is wiped out and schema needs to be recreated. Press the Save button. Now, all the fingerprints produced by this Jenkins instance should be saved in the configured PostgreSQL instance! Querying the Fingerprint Database Due to the relational structure defined by PostgreSQL, it allows users/developers to query the fingerprint data which was not possible using the Redis fingerprint storage plugin. The fingerprint storage can act as a consolidated storage for multiple Jenkins instances. For example, to search for a fingerprint id across Jenkins instances using the file name, the following query could be used: SELECT fingerprint_id FROM fingerprint.fingerprint WHERE filename = 'random_file'; A sample query is provided which can be tweaked depending on the parameters to be searched: SELECT * FROM fingerprint.fingerprint WHERE fingerprint_id = 'random_id' AND instance_id = 'random_jenkins_instance_id' AND filename = 'random_file' AND original_job_name = 'random_job' AND original_job_build_number = 'random_build_number' AND timestamp BETWEEN '2019-12-01 23:59:59'::timestamp AND now()::timestamp The facets are stored in the database as jsonb. PostgreSQL offers support to query jsonb. This is especially useful for querying the information stored inside fingerprint facets. As an example, the Docker Traceability Plugin stores information like the name of Docker images inside these facets. These can be queried across Jenkins instances like so: >'imageName' = 'random_container'; At the moment these queries require working knowledge of the database. In future, these queries can be abstracted away by plugins and the features made available to users directly inside Jenkins. Demo External Fingerprint Storage Demo Slide deck Releases 🚀 We released the 0.1-alpha-1 version for the PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin. Please refer to the changelog for more information. Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin 1.0-rc-3 was also released. The changelog provides more details. A few API changes made in the Jenkins core were released in Jenkins-2.253. It mainly includes exposing fingerprint range set serialization methods for plugins. Future Directions The relational structure of the plugin allows some performance improvements that can be made when implementing cleanup, as well as improving the performance of Fingerprint#add(String job, int buildNumber). These designs were discussed and are a scope of future improvement. The current external fingerprint storage API supports configuring multiple Jenkins instances to a single storage. This opens up the possibility of developing traceability plugins which can track fingerprints across Jenkins instances. Please consider reaching out to us if you feel any of the use cases would benefit you, or if you would like to share some new use cases. Acknowledgements The PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin and the Redis Fingerprint Storage plugin are maintained by the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) Team for External Fingerprint Storage for Jenkins. Special thanks to Oleg Nenashev, Andrey Falko, Mike Cirioli, Tim Jacomb, and the entire Jenkins community for all the contribution to this project. As we wrap up, we would like to point out that there are plenty of future directions and use cases for the externalized fingerprint storage, as mentioned in the previous section, and we welcome everybody to contribute. Reaching Out Feel free to reach out to us for any questions, feedback, etc. on the project’s Gitter Channel or the Jenkins Developer Mailing list. We use Jenkins Jira to track issues. Feel free to file issues under either the postgresql-fingerprint-storage-plugin or the redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin component depending on the plugin. Other Links Phase 1 Post Phase 2 Post PostgreSQL Fingerprint Storage Plugin Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin jep:226[] Gitter Channel Project Page

As another great phase for the External Fingerprint Storage Project comes to an end, we summarise the work done during this phase in this blog post. It was an exciting and fruitful journey, just like the previous phase, and offered some great learning experience. To understand what the project is about and the past progress, please refer to the phase 1 blog post. New Stories Completed We targeted four stories in this phase, namely fingerprint cleanup, fingerprint migration, refactoring the current implementation to use descriptors, and improved testing of the Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin. We explain these stories in detail below. Fingerprint Cleanup https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkins/pull/4817 https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/23 This story involved extending the FingerprintStorage API to allow external storage plugins to perform and configure their own fingerprint cleanup strategies. We added the following functionalities to Jenkins core API: FingerprintStorage#iterateAndCleanupFingerprints(TaskListener taskListener) This allows external fingerprint storage implementations to implement their own custom fingerprint cleanup. The method is called periodically by Jenkins core. FingerprintStorage#cleanFingerprint(Fingerprint fingerprint, TaskListener taskListener) This is a reference implementation which can be called by external storage plugins to clean up a fingerprint. It is upto the plugin implementation to decide whether to use this method. They may choose to write a custom implementation. We consume these new API functionalities in the Redis Fingerprint Storage plugin. The plugin uses cursors to traverse the fingerprints, updating the build information, and deleting the build-less fingerprints. Earlier, fingerprint cleanup was always run periodically and there was no way to turn it off. We also added an option to allow the user to turn off fingerprint cleanup. This was done because it may be the case that keeping redundant fingerprints in memory might be cheaper than the cleanup operation (especially in the case of external storages, which are cheaper these days). Fingerprint Migration https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkins/pull/4825 Earlier, there was no support for fingerprints stored in the local storage. In this phase, we introduce migration support for users. The old fingerprints are now migrated to the new configured external storage whenever they are used (lazy migration). This allows gradual migration of old fingerprints from local disk storage to the new external storage. Refactor FingerprintStorage to use descriptors https://github.com/jenkinsci/jenkins/pull/4834 https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/36 Earlier, whenever an external fingerprint storage plugin was installed, it was enabled by default. We refactored the implementation to make use of Descriptor pattern so the fingerprint engine can now be selected as a dropdown from the Jenkins configuration page. The dropdown is shown only when multiple fingerprint storage engines are configured on the system. Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin was refactored to use this new implementation. Strengthened testing for the Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/33 We introduced new connection tests in the Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin. These tests allow testing of cases like slow connection, breakage of connection to Redis, etc. These were implemented using the Toxiproxy module inside Testcontainers. https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/31 We introduced test for Configuration-as-code (JCasC) compatibility with the plugin. The documentation for configuring the plugin using JCasC was also added. https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/39 We introduced a suite of authentication tests, to verify the proper working of the Redis authentication system. Authentication uses the credentials plugin. https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/32 https://github.com/jenkinsci/redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin/pull/36 We strengthened our web UI testing to ensure that the configuration page for the plugin works properly as planned. Other miscellaneous tasks Please refer to the Jira Epic for this phase. Releases 🚀 Changes in the Jenkins core (except migration) were released in Jenkins 2.248. We drafted 1.0-rc-1 release for the Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin to deliver the changes. This was an increment from the alpha release we had drafted at the end of the previous phase. The plugin is now available at https://plugins.jenkins.io/redis-fingerprint-storage/! Trying out the new features! The latest release for the plugin can be downloaded from the update center, instructions for which can be found in the README of the plugin. We appreciate you trying out the plugin, and welcome any suggestions, feature requests, bug reports, etc. Acknowledgements The Redis Fingerprint Storage plugin is built and maintained by the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) Team for External Fingerprint Storage for Jenkins. Special thanks to Oleg Nenashev, Andrey Falko, Mike Cirioli, Tim Jacomb, and the entire Jenkins community for all the contribution to this project. Future Work Some of the topics we aim to tackle in the next phase include a new reference implementation (possibly backed by PostgreSQL), tracing, etc. Reaching Out Feel free to reach out to us for any questions, feedback, etc. on the project’s Gitter Channel or the Jenkins Developer Mailing list. We use Jenkins Jira to track issues. Feel free to file issues under redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin component. Other Links Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin Issue Tracker for Phase 2 jep:226[] Gitter Channel Project Page Phase 1 Blog Post

Externalizing fingerprint storage for Jenkins is a Google Summer of Code 2020 project. We are working on building a pluggable storage engine for fingerprints (see jep:226[]). File fingerprinting is a way to track which version of a file is being used by a job/build, making dependency tracking easy. The fingerprint engine of Jenkins can track usages of artifacts, credentials, files, etc. within the system. Currently, it does this by maintaining a local XML-based database which leads to dependence on the physical disk of the Jenkins controller. Allowing fingerprint storage to be moved to external storages decreases the dependence of Jenkins instances on the physical disk space and also allows for tracking the flow of fingerprints across instances of Jenkins connected to the same external storage. Advantages of using external storage drivers: Remove dependence on Jenkins controller disk storage Can configure pay-as-you-use cloud storages Easy Backup Management Better Reliability and Availability Fingerprints can be tracked across Jenkins instances Along with this API, we are also working on a reference implementation in the form of a plugin, powered by Redis. As phase 1 of this project comes to an end, this blog post serves as a summary of the progress we made to the entire Jenkins community. Current State The new API introduced in Jenkins core is under review. Once merged, it will offer developers to extend it to build external fingerprint storage plugins. The Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin is alpha release ready. We would immensely appreciate any feedback. External Fingerprint Storage Demo Introducing the new API for plugin developers With PR-4731, we introduce a new fingerprint storage API, allowing configuring custom storage engines. We exposed the following methods in the new FingerprintStorage class: void save() Saves the given Fingerprint in the storage. Fingerprint load(String id) Returns the Fingerprint with the given unique ID. The unique ID for a fingerprint is defined by Fingerprint#getHashString(). void delete(String id) Deletes the Fingerprint with the given unique ID. boolean isReady() Returns true if there is some data in the fingerprint database corresponding to the particular Jenkins instance. Introducing Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin uses the new External Fingerprint Storage API to store the fingerprints in a Redis instance. Installation: The alpha release (version 0.1-alpha-1) for the plugin was drafted, and can be installed using the experimental update center. Follow along the following steps after running Jenkins to download and install the plugin: Select Manage Jenkins Select Manage Plugins Go to Advanced tab Configure the Update Site URL as: https://updates.jenkins.io/experimental/update-center.json Click on Submit, and then press the Check Now button. Go to Available tab. Search for Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin and check the box along it. Click on Install without restart The plugin should now be installed on your system. Usage Once the plugin has been installed, you can configure the Redis server details by following the steps below: Select Manage Jenkins Select Configure System Scroll to the section Redis Fingerprint Storage Configuration and fill in the required details: Host - Enter hostname where Redis is running Port - Specify the port on which Redis is running SSL - Click if SSL is enabled Database - Redis supports integer indexed databases, which can be specified here. Connection Timeout - Set the connection timeout duration in milliseconds. Socked Timeout - Set the socket timeout duration in milliseconds. Credentials - Configure authentication using username and password to the Redis instance. Enabled - Check this to enable the plugin (Note: This is likely to be removed very soon, and will be enabled by default.) Use the Test Redis Connection to verify that the details are correct and Jenkins is able to connect to the Redis instance. Press the Save button. Now, all the fingerprints produced by this Jenkins instance should be saved in the configured Redis server! Future Work Some of the topics we aim to tackle in the next phases include extending the API, fingerprint cleanup, migrations (internal→external, external→internal, external→external), tracing, ORM, implementing the saveable listener, etc. Acknowledgements The Redis Fingerprint Storage plugin is built and maintained by the Google Summer of Code (GSoC) Team for External Fingerprint Storage for Jenkins. Special thanks to Oleg Nenashev, Andrey Falko, Mike Cirioli, Jesse Glick, and the entire Jenkins community for all the contribution to this project. Reaching Out Feel free to reach out to us for any questions, feedback, etc. on the project’s Gitter Channel or the Jenkins Developer Mailing list We use Jenkins Jira to track issues. Feel free to file issues under redis-fingerprint-storage-plugin component. Other Links Phase 1 demo Presentation slides Redis Fingerprint Storage Plugin Issue Tracker for Phase 1 jep:226[] Gitter Channel Project Page