🚀 GitHub Actions CI/CD Pipeline for Java Application (Tomcat Deployment)

📌 Overview

This project demonstrates how to implement a complete CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions for a Java application built with Maven and deployed on Apache Tomcat.

It replaces traditional CI/CD tools like Jenkins by leveraging GitHub-native automation.

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⚙️ What is GitHub Actions?

GitHub Actions is a CI/CD platform that allows you to automate your build, test, and deployment pipeline directly inside GitHub.

Key Components

Component	Description	Jenkins Equivalent
Workflow	Automation pipeline defined in YAML	Pipeline
Event	Trigger for workflow (push, PR, schedule)	Webhook
Job	Group of steps running on same runner	Stage
Step	Individual task/command	Step
Action	Reusable component	Plugin
Runner	Machine executing jobs	Slave/Agent
Environment	Deployment target (dev, prod)	-
Secrets	Secure storage for sensitive data	Credentials
Cache	Speeds up builds by reusing dependencies	-

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🔄 CI/CD Pipeline Flow

Code → Build → Test → Artifact → Deploy

All stages are handled using GitHub Actions.

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📁 Project Setup

1. Clone or download the project:

   https://github.com/SumanAddi/github-actions-project.git
   

2. Create a new repository in your GitHub account.

3. Upload project files (exclude .github/workflows if you want to configure from scratch).

4. Go to:

   GitHub → Actions → Search → "Java with Maven" → Configure
   

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⚡ Workflow Example (Build + Deploy)

name: Java CI/CD Pipeline to Tomcat

on:
  push:
    branches: [ main ]

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Checkout code
        uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Set up JDK 17
        uses: actions/setup-java@v4
        with:
          distribution: 'temurin'
          java-version: '17'

      - name: Build with Maven
        run: mvn clean package -DskipTests

      - name: Upload WAR artifact
        uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: myapp
          path: target/*.war

  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    needs: build
    environment: production

    steps:
      - name: Download WAR artifact
        uses: actions/download-artifact@v4
        with:
          name: myapp

      - name: Deploy to Tomcat
        run: |
          WAR_FILE=$(ls *.war)
          curl -v --upload-file "$WAR_FILE" \
          "http://${{ secrets.TOMCAT_USER }}:${{ secrets.TOMCAT_PASSWORD }}@${{ secrets.TOMCAT_HOST }}/manager/text/deploy?path=/myapp&update=true"

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🔐 GitHub Secrets

Configure the following secrets:

Secret Name	Value
TOMCAT_USER	tomcat
TOMCAT_PASSWORD	your-password
TOMCAT_HOST	your-server-ip:8080

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🖥️ Tomcat Setup (Amazon Linux 2023)

dnf install java-17-amazon-corretto -y
wget https://dlcdn.apache.org/tomcat/tomcat-11/v11.0.15/bin/apache-tomcat-11.0.15.tar.gz
tar -zxvf apache-tomcat-11.0.15.tar.gz
sh apache-tomcat-11.0.15/bin/startup.sh

Access:

http://<IP>:8080

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📦 Artifacts

• WAR file is generated inside:

  target/*.war
  

• Stored temporarily in GitHub Actions runner

• Can be reused across jobs

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🏃 Runners

GitHub Hosted

• Ubuntu, Windows, macOS
• No setup required

Self-Hosted

• Custom EC2/Linux machine
• Better control and performance

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🔧 Self-Hosted Runner Setup

mkdir actions-runner && cd actions-runner
curl -o runner.tar.gz -L https://github.com/actions/runner/releases
tar xzf runner.tar.gz
./config.sh
./run.sh

Then update workflow:

runs-on: [self-hosted, linux]

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⚡ Caching (Improve Performance)

- name: Cache Maven packages
  uses: actions/cache@v4
  with:
    path: ~/.m2/repository
    key: ${{ runner.os }}-maven-${{ hashFiles('**/pom.xml') }}

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🔍 SonarQube Integration

Setup

• Install SonarQube server
• Access: http://<IP>:9000
• Default login: admin/admin

Secrets

Secret	Description
SONAR_HOST	SonarQube URL
SONAR_TOKEN	Access token

Add to Workflow

- name: SonarQube Analysis
  run: mvn sonar:sonar \
    -Dsonar.projectKey=project \
    -Dsonar.host.url=${{ secrets.SONAR_HOST }} \
    -Dsonar.login=${{ secrets.SONAR_TOKEN }}

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✅ Deployment Verification

curl -I http://<TOMCAT_HOST>/myapp

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📚 Key Learnings

• End-to-end CI/CD using GitHub Actions
• Maven build automation
• Artifact management
• Secure secrets handling
• Deployment to Tomcat
• Self-hosted runners setup
• SonarQube integration

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🏁 Conclusion

This project provides a complete real-world implementation of CI/CD using GitHub Actions, replacing Jenkins with a modern, GitHub-native solution.

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📌 Author

Suman Addi

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