Running Jenkins Jobs on Windows Virtual Machine - testing

Question

Im trying to setup Jenkins to run tests on a Virtual Machine but im not to sure how to proceed.
What id like to be able to do is to get Jenkins to build the environment on the vm and then have Jenkins execute the test scripts on the vm environment. After the tests have passed/failed id then like Jenkins to clean the database and pull down the virtual environment.
Server box - Windows 7
Virtaul Machine - VMWare
So what im looking for is some information or tutorials on how to implement the above. It would also be helpful if you could recommend what Jenkins plugins I can use to implement the above or if you want to go above and beyond can you outline the steps needed to achieve the above.
Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

I'm doing just that in my environment using the vSphere Cloud Plugin. Here's a basic step-by-step guide:
Install the plugin
Configure your ESX/ESXi server as a new "vSphere Cloud"
Create a new Jenkins node, of type "Slave virtual computer running under vSphere Cloud" (which becomes available after Installing the plugin).
When configuring the new node, optionally specify a snapshot name. This will revert the VM to this snapshot when the node launches.
Use the node in a pipeline script: node("node-name-or-label") { ...your code here... }
I use the method above with about 10 Windows nodes, reverting each to a "Clean" snapshot to start each build with a known state.