** test **
### **1-Day Learning & Lab Activity Plan for IT Engineer: CI/CD, Jenkins, Kubernetes, GitOps**  
*Focus Areas: CI/CD Concepts, Jenkins, Kubernetes Integration, GitOps Principles*  

---

### **Morning Session (9:00 AM – 12:30 PM)**  

#### **1. Introduction to CI/CD Concepts (9:00 AM – 9:45 AM)**  
**Objective**: Understand core CI/CD principles and workflows.  
- **Key Topics**:  
  - What is CI/CD? Benefits (speed, reliability, automation).  
  - CI/CD pipeline stages: Build → Test → Deploy → Monitor.  
  - Differences between traditional deployment vs. CI/CD.  
  - Tools overview (Jenkins, GitLab CI, GitHub Actions).  
- **Activity**: Whiteboard a sample CI/CD pipeline for a web app.  

---

#### **2. Jenkins for CI/CD (9:45 AM – 11:00 AM)**  
**Objective**: Set up Jenkins and create a basic CI/CD pipeline.  
- **Key Topics**:  
  - Jenkins architecture (master/agent, plugins).  
  - Creating freestyle and pipeline jobs.  
  - Integrating Jenkins with Git (GitHub/GitLab).  
- **Lab Activity**:  
  1. Install Jenkins on a local VM/cloud instance.  
  2. Create a "Hello World" pipeline script (declarative syntax).  
  3. Trigger a build on a Git commit (webhook setup).  
  ```groovy
  pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
      stage('Build') {
        steps {
          echo 'Building...'
        }
      }
      stage('Test') {
        steps {
          echo 'Testing...'
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ```  
- **Troubleshooting**: Resolving plugin conflicts, agent connectivity.  

**Break (11:00 AM – 11:15 AM)**  

---

#### **3. Jenkins CI/CD for Kubernetes (11:15 AM – 12:30 PM)**  
**Objective**: Deploy applications to Kubernetes using Jenkins.  
- **Key Topics**:  
  - Kubernetes basics (pods, deployments, services).  
  - Jenkins plugins for Kubernetes (Kubernetes CLI, Helm).  
  - Dynamic Jenkins agents in Kubernetes pods.  
- **Lab Activity**:  
  1. Set up a local Kubernetes cluster (Minikube/kind).  
  2. Configure Jenkins to deploy to Kubernetes:  
     - Install Kubernetes plugin.  
     - Add Kubeconfig to Jenkins credentials.  
  3. Create a pipeline to build a Docker image and deploy to Kubernetes:  
  ```groovy
  pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
      stage('Build Docker') {
        steps {
          sh 'docker build -t my-app:latest .'
        }
      }
      stage('Deploy to K8s') {
        steps {
          sh 'kubectl apply -f k8s-deployment.yaml'
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ```  
- **Challenge**: Diagnose a failed deployment (e.g., image pull error).  

---

### **Lunch Break (12:30 PM – 1:30 PM)**  

---

### **Afternoon Session (1:30 PM – 5:00 PM)**  

#### **4. GitOps Principles (1:30 PM – 2:30 PM)**  
**Objective**: Learn GitOps fundamentals and declarative infrastructure.  
- **Key Topics**:  
  - What is GitOps? (Git as the single source of truth).  
  - Declarative vs. imperative infrastructure.  
  - Tools: Argo CD, Flux, Jenkins GitOps integration.  
- **Activity**: Compare CI/CD and GitOps workflows.  
- **Lab Activity**:  
  1. Declare a Kubernetes deployment manifest in a Git repo.  
  2. Use Jenkins to sync the cluster state with the Git repo:  
     - Poll Git for changes.  
     - Automatically run `kubectl apply` on updates.  

---

#### **5. Jenkins + GitOps Lab (2:30 PM – 4:00 PM)**  
**Objective**: Automate Kubernetes deployments using GitOps with Jenkins.  
- **Lab Steps**:  
  1. Fork a sample Git repo with Kubernetes manifests.  
  2. Configure Jenkins to monitor the repo (SCM polling).  
  3. Create a pipeline to apply changes:  
  ```groovy
  pipeline {
    agent any
    stages {
      stage('Sync K8s') {
        steps {
          git url: 'https://github.com/your-repo.git', branch: 'main'
          sh 'kubectl apply -f ./manifests/'
        }
      }
    }
  }
  ```  
  4. Modify a manifest in Git and observe Jenkins auto-deploying.  
- **Discussion**: Security considerations (secrets management, RBAC).  

**Break (4:00 PM – 4:15 PM)**  

---

#### **6. Recap, Q&A, and Feedback (4:15 PM – 5:00 PM)**  
- Review key takeaways: CI/CD pipelines, Jenkins-Kubernetes integration, GitOps.  
- **Q&A**: Common pitfalls (e.g., pipeline debugging, state drift in GitOps).  
- **Feedback Session**: Adjust future content based on learner input.  
- **Additional Resources**:  
  - Jenkins Documentation: https://www.jenkins.io/doc/  
  - GitOps Working Group: https://www.gitops.tech/  

---

### **Lab Environment Setup (Pre-requisites)**  
- Jenkins server with Docker, Kubernetes plugins.  
- Kubernetes cluster (Minikube, EKS, or GKE).  
- Git repository (GitHub/GitLab) with sample code and manifests.  

By the end of the day, learners will have built a Jenkins pipeline for Kubernetes deployments and implemented GitOps practices for infrastructure management.