It is now possible to use Hudson / Jenkins for continuous integration testing in conjunction with Silk Central Test Manager.

The first thing that needs to be done is to install the SCTM Executor plugin into Jenkins, to do this:

1. Open Jenkins in a browser via the URL (e.g. http://HOSTNAME:8080)

2. On the Welcome screen click on the "Manage Jenkins" link

3. Click on the "Manage Plugins" link

4. On the Plugin Manager screen click on the "Available" tab

5. Scroll down to find the "SCTMExecutor" plugin, check the box beside it and click the "Download now and install after restart" button

6. Once Jenkins has restarted, click on the "Installed" tab and you will see that the SCTMExecutor plugin is now installed. Then check the box beside the SCTMExecutor plugin to enable it

7. Click on the "Restart Once No Jobs Are Running" button

8. This completes the installation of the SCTM Executor plugin.

The next step is to configure Jenkins in order to connect to your SCTM installation. To do this:

1. On the "Manage Jenkins" screen click on the "Configure System" link

2. Scroll down to the "SilkCentral TestManager Konfiguration" section and enter your SCTM installation details. Click on the "Test Connection" button to ensure you can connect to SCTM.

3. This completes setting up the connection from Jenkins to SCTM.

The next thing to do is to create a Jenkins job and execute your tests via SCTM, to do this:

1. Click on the "New Job" link and enter a Job name. Select the "Build a free-style software project" radio button and click OK.

2. Configure your Job settings as required. To add a SCTM build step, scroll down to the "Build" section and select "SilkCentral Test Manager Execution" from the "Add Build step" drop down.

3. Enter the SCTM Execution Plan ID you wish to execute and also the SCTM Project ID that contains this execution plan.

4. Click the "Advanced" button to configure other options when running the SCTM execution plan such as continue on error, collect results, build numbers to be used. Click "Save" to save the job.

5. Once save click on the Workspace link for the job you just created.

6. You will receive an error stating that the project does not have any Workspaces, this is because no builds have been performed yet. To do this click on the "Run a build" link.

7. This will start the SCTM execution and you can see the pending status on the Jenkins project page.

8. Once the execution has started you will get an 'in progress' icon.

9. Once the execution has completed you will see the screen below.

10. If you then go to the Execution Plan in SCTM you will see that it was executed and the build information has been brought over from Jenkins.

11. In this case the build was "1". Note: you can define which build number is used in the Advanced settings for the SCTM build step, see point 4 above.

Now if you run a new build in Jenkins for this job the SCTM execution will automatically be executed.