Embodiments are directed to dynamically creating and managing a plurality of virtual machines and automating the instantiation and provisioning of a plurality of virtual machines. A computer system receives a user request to create virtual machines, where each virtual machine is controlled by an associated workflow. The computer system accesses a provisioning schema that indicates various configuration settings that are to be used by the associated workflow when provisioning the virtual machines. The computer system initiates a virtual service layer configured to support multiple virtual machine hosts, where each host is configured to operate at least one virtual machine. The computer system also instantiates the virtual machines on at least one virtual machine host according to the accessed provisioning schema, so that each virtual machine is provisioned according to the indicated configuration settings.