title: Creating a virtual machine image as a continuous integration artifact?
body: <p>I'm currently working on a server-side product which is a bit complex to deploy on a new server, which makes it an ideal candidate for testing out in a VM.  We are already using Hudson as our CI system, and I would really like to be able to deploy a virtual machine image with the latest and greatest software as a build artifact.</p>
  
  <p>So, how does one go about doing this exactly?  What VM software is recommended for this purpose?  How much scripting needs to be done to accomplish this?  Are there any issues in particular when using Windows 2003 Server as the OS here?</p>