OpenShift for Developers, 2nd Edition

Chapter 5. OpenShift Pipelines

OpenShift Pipelines is a CI/CD system based on the open source Tekton project. With Pipelines, you can trigger repeatable builds when source code changes, integrate tests into the process, and configure automatic redeployment strategies, from rolling updates to traffic-splitting A/B testing on a single cluster.

In this chapter, you’ll see how Pipelines integrates Tekton fundamentals with OpenShift to make it easier to create and manage stepwise build and deployment processes. You’ll add the Pipelines Operator to your OpenShift cluster. Then you’ll be ready to create a pipeline to build, test, and deploy a realistic application with multiple components, which you’ll iterate on to add features and fix bugs throughout the rest of the book.

Tekton

Tekton lets you create pipelines of repeatable steps. Tekton steps happen in a pod specifically created for the task. Tekton tasks are therefore isolated from one another and from the rest of the cluster, but you don’t have to manage a dedicated build server. Tekton’s moving parts are Kubernetes resources, so you can use familiar tools to create, manage, and monitor Tekton pipelines.

Tekton is the foundation of OpenShift Pipelines. Pipelines make it easier to set up, run, and monitor build processes by bundling the essential Tekton components and adding management tools in line with OpenShift conventions, including graphical representations of pipelines in the Web Console. You’ll see the two terms used interchangeably ...