isnotbadforyou.com/jenkins

Jenkins is not bad for you... ...it's bad for your Saturday afternoon though

How to run Jenkins CI/CD pipelines on a home server without losing your mind or your electric bill.

The math: Jenkins is open-source automation software that builds, tests, and deploys code automatically. If you or someone in your household is doing software development or home lab tinkering, Jenkins is the industry standard — but it is notoriously hungry for RAM and CPU, which in North Port means FPL is quietly billing you for the privilege. Running it on an old laptop or an underpowered machine leads to builds that freeze, pipelines that fail silently, and a lot of wasted time. Get the setup right once and it runs itself.

1 Start with the right micro-server so FPL doesn't notice

Jenkins needs at least 2GB of RAM to stop complaining, and 4GB to actually behave. A Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB runs Jenkins cleanly at roughly 5 watts idle — that's under $5 a month in FPL electricity versus 80-100 watts from a repurposed desktop. North Port's heat matters here: the Pi 5 runs hot in a garage or shed, so keep it indoors in AC. I mounted mine on a shelf in the home office and forgot it was there.

Start Here
Raspberry Pi 5 8GB Starter Kit by Vilros
$119.99 ★★★★☆ 4.6 (1,200+ reviews)
"The Vilros kit ships with the case, fan, and power supply — the three things people get wrong buying the board alone."
⚠️ Avoid: Skip the 4GB Pi 5 for Jenkins — it technically runs, but you'll hit swap constantly and builds will crawl. Spend the extra $10.
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2 Install Jenkins with Docker so you can actually uninstall it

Running Jenkins bare-metal on your server is how you end up with a machine nobody wants to touch. Docker containers let you start and stop Jenkins cleanly, update it without drama, and roll back if something breaks. You install Docker first, then pull the official Jenkins LTS image — the whole thing takes about 20 minutes if you follow the official docs line by line. On Raspberry Pi OS or Ubuntu Server, this is the only way I'd do it.

Step 1
Docker Deep Dive by Nigel Poulton (Kindle Edition)
$9.99 ★★★★☆ 4.7 (3,400+ reviews)
"It's 200 pages, it's current, and it's the fastest way to actually understand what you're doing instead of copy-pasting commands you don't trust."
⚠️ Avoid: Don't buy a thick O'Reilly Docker book for this use case — you need practical, not encyclopedic, and Poulton covers what Jenkins actually needs.
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3 Add a UPS so a Florida afternoon storm doesn't corrupt your build database

Charlotte County gets roughly 80 thunderstorm days a year. A power blip while Jenkins is writing to its workspace or database will corrupt jobs and sometimes the whole config folder. A small UPS under your desk gives you 15-20 minutes of runtime — long enough for a clean shutdown or for FPL to restore power after a brief outage. I had one corrupt pipeline before I bought the UPS. I won't have another.

Don't Skip
APC Back-UPS 600VA UPS Battery Backup BE600M1
$64.99 ★★★★☆ 4.7 (28,000+ reviews)
"It's the most-proven entry-level UPS on the market and the 600VA handles a Pi 5 plus a small switch with runtime to spare."
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4 Set up a reverse proxy so you can reach Jenkins from anywhere without opening scary ports

By default Jenkins runs on port 8080, and if you forward that directly to the internet you will have bots hammering your login page within hours. Nginx as a reverse proxy puts a proper front door on it — HTTPS, clean URLs, and you can add basic auth on top. A $5/month Cloudflare Tunnel eliminates port forwarding entirely, which is even better. Either way, the Nginx Pocket Reference gets you configured in one sitting.

Pro Tip
Nginx Pocket Reference by O'Reilly (Kindle)
$19.99 ★★★★☆ 4.4 (1,100+ reviews)
"Concise, accurate, and the reverse proxy chapter is exactly what you need — you don't need the rest of the book but you'll use it."
⚠️ Avoid: Don't expose Jenkins on port 8080 directly to the internet — ever. It's not a firewall problem you solve later; solve it before you open anything.
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5 Add a second drive for Jenkins workspaces so your OS doesn't fill up

Jenkins stores build artifacts, logs, and workspace files on whatever disk you point it at. A busy pipeline will eat a 64GB SD card in weeks. A small USB 3.0 SSD mounted as a separate volume keeps your OS drive healthy and your build history intact. In North Port's humidity a sealed SSD outlasts a spinning drive significantly — SD cards are the worst option for anything you care about.

Best Value
Samsung T7 Portable SSD 500GB USB 3.2
$54.99 ★★★★☆ 4.7 (62,000+ reviews)
"The T7 is fast enough to keep up with Jenkins I/O, runs cool, and Samsung's reliability track record is why it has 62,000 reviews."
⚠️ Avoid: Skip USB flash drives for Jenkins storage — they wear out fast under constant write cycles and you'll lose your build history without warning.
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DIY total: $270 total for everything on this page
vs. professional: Managed CI/CD platforms like CircleCI or GitHub Actions run $30-$50/month for modest usage — $360-$600/year.
You save: $90-$330 saved in year one, more every year after.

Jenkins rewards patience once and then does the boring work forever.

isnotbadforyou.com/jenkins · A North Port neighbor's honest take

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