diff --git a/its/.github/workflows/maven-verify.yml b/its/.github/workflows/maven-verify.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4548530a6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/.github/workflows/maven-verify.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+# Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+# or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+# distributed with this work for additional information
+# regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+# to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+# "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+# with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+# software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+# "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+# KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+# specific language governing permissions and limitations
+# under the License.
+
+name: Java CI
+
+on: [push, pull_request]
+
+jobs:
+  build:
+    strategy:
+      matrix:
+        os: [ubuntu-latest]
+        java: [8, 17]
+      fail-fast: false
+
+    runs-on: ${{ matrix.os }}
+
+    steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
+
+      - name: Set up JDK
+        uses: actions/setup-java@v2
+        with:
+          java-version: ${{ matrix.java }}
+          distribution: 'temurin'
+          cache: 'maven'
+
+      - name: Set up Maven
+        run: mvn --errors --batch-mode --show-version wrapper:wrapper "-Dmaven=3.8.6"
+
+      - name: Running integration tests
+        # execute on any push or pull request from forked repo
+        if: github.event_name == 'push' || ( github.event_name == 'pull_request' && github.event.pull_request.head.repo.fork )
+        run: "./mvnw -B clean install -Prun-its,embedded -Dmaven.repo.local=`pwd`/repo"
diff --git a/its/Jenkinsfile b/its/Jenkinsfile
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b63c1733c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/Jenkinsfile
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+#!groovy
+
+pipeline {
+  agent any
+  // save some io during the build
+  options { durabilityHint('PERFORMANCE_OPTIMIZED') }
+  
+  stages {
+    stage("Parallel Stage") {
+      parallel {
+        stage("Build / Test - mvn latest - JDK8 - ubuntu") {
+          agent { node { label 'ubuntu' } }
+          steps {
+              timeout( time: 180, unit: 'MINUTES' ) {
+                mavenBuild( "jdk_1.8_latest", "maven_latest")
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        stage("Build / Test - mvn latest - JDK11 - ubuntu") {
+          agent { node { label 'ubuntu' } }
+          steps {
+              timeout( time: 180, unit: 'MINUTES' ) {
+                mavenBuild( "jdk_11_latest", "maven_latest")
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        stage("Build / Test - mvn latest - JDK8 - windowx") {
+          agent { node { label 'Windows' } }
+          steps {
+              timeout( time: 180, unit: 'MINUTES' ) {
+                mavenBuild( "jdk_1.8_latest", "maven_latest")
+            }
+          }
+        }
+        stage("Build / Test - mvn latest - JDK11 - windows") {
+          agent { node { label 'Windows' } }
+          steps {
+              timeout( time: 180, unit: 'MINUTES' ) {
+                mavenBuild( "jdk_11_latest", "maven_latest")
+            }
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    }
+  }
+}  
+
+def mavenBuild(jdk, mvnName) {
+  script {
+    try {
+        withMaven(jdk: "$jdk", maven: "$mvnName", publisherStrategy: 'EXPLICIT', mavenOpts: "-Xms2g -Xmx4g -Djava.awt.headless=true") {
+            if (isUnix()) {
+                sh "mvn -V clean install -Prun-its,embedded -B"
+            } else {
+                bat "mvn -V clean install -Prun-its,embedded -B"
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    finally
+    {
+      junit testResults: 'core-it-suite/target/surefire-reports/*.xml', allowEmptyResults: true
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
index 2bccdb1366..8e307a4332 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/pom.xml
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ under the License.
       use for the tests. -->
     <preparedMavenHome>${mavenHome}</preparedMavenHome>
     <!-- default properties used to filter the global settings -->
-    <maven.it.central>https://repo1.maven.org/maven2</maven.it.central>
+    <maven.it.central>https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2</maven.it.central>
     <proxy.active>false</proxy.active>
     <proxy.host>localhost</proxy.host>
     <proxy.port>80</proxy.port>
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-7487-deadlock/plugin/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-7487-deadlock/plugin/pom.xml
index 78054e6268..c765081a24 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-7487-deadlock/plugin/pom.xml
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-7487-deadlock/plugin/pom.xml
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ under the License.
       <version>${maven-version}</version>
       <scope>provided</scope>
     </dependency>
+    <!-- this might help github actions to not fail... -->
+    <dependency>
+      <groupId>org.codehaus.plexus</groupId>
+      <artifactId>plexus-classworlds</artifactId>
+      <version>2.5.2</version>
+    </dependency>
   </dependencies>
 
   <build>