I'm looking into how best to automate integration tests (by which I mean complete use cases entirely within our application)

The questions

* [Correct Approach for Unit Testing Complex Interactions](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1663515/correct-approach-for-unit-testing-complex-interactions)
* [What are the pros and cons of automated Unit Tests vs automated Integration tests?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/771011/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-automated-unit-tests-vs-automated-integration-tests)

cover the "why" and "what" aspects very well.

The question [Automated integration testing a C++ app with a database](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/87610/automated-integration-testing-a-c-app-with-a-database) implies that xUnit frameworks are a good way to create and execute integration tests. Are xUnit's really well suited to that task? Are there common gotcha's to be aware of? A good approach to follow?

Are there better approaches (short of possibly purchasing the HP / former Mercury tool suite)?

My specific environment for this project is Java / SpringSource / Hibernate but am also interested in suggestions for the .Net platform.