If you only need the IP you can do the following:

• def ip = vSphere buildStep: [$class: 'ExposeGuestInfo', envVariablePrefix: 'VSPHERE', vm: 'cloned-vm'], serverName: 'vsphere_server'
• print ip

The exposeGuestInfo buildStep returns a string with the IP

Thank you, that's very helpful. I also need access to the GuestFamily value.

I've tried just about every combination I can think of to get the hostname of the VM, including $VSPHERE_HostName, $env.VSPHERE_HostName, env.HostName, env.hostName, VSPHERE.hostName, VSPHERE.HostName, and many others.

        ip = vSphere buildStep: [$class: 'ExposeGuestInfo', envVariablePrefix: 'VSPHERE', vm: vmName], serverName: "vSphere Server"

Yes, it returns the IP, but I also want to get the VM's reported hostname, which is logged as such:
[vSphere] Added environmental variable "VSPHERE_HostName" with a value of "feature-beta-testing"
This seems like it should be available either via $VSPHERE_HostName, or $env.VSPHERE_HostName.  Both return null.

I confirm the issue. Meanwhile is it possible to parse the text output and extract the value from it?

Same problem with vSphere PoweOn/Resume class.
exposing  vSphere variables to jenkins environmental variable not working in pipeline. Jenkins ver. 2.107.2, vSphere Plugin 2.17

Im using vSphere PoweOn/Resume to get IP aadress.

#!/usr/bin/env groovy
def vmDomainName = 'vm-test.ci.kit'
node() {
    stage ('Build'){
        vSphere buildStep: [$class: 'PowerOn', timeoutInSeconds: 180, vm: vmDomainName], serverName: 'testvcs'
        def vm_ip = env.VSPHERE_IP
        def build_id = env.BUILD_ID
        echo "VM IP: ${vm_ip}"
        echo "Build_id: ${build_id}"
    }    
}

Console Output:
Started by user someuser
Running in Durability level: MAX_SURVIVABILITY[Pipeline] nodeRunning on
Jenkins
in /var/lib/jenkins/workspace/PowerOnVmPipeline[Pipeline] {[Pipeline] stage[Pipeline] { (Build)[Pipeline] vSphere[vSphere]
[vSphere] Performing vSphere build step: "Power-On/Resume VM"
[vSphere] Attempting to use server configuration: "testvcs"
[vSphere] Successfully retrieved IP for "vm-test.ci.kit" : 10.0.24.55
[vSphere] Exposing 10.0.24.55 as environment variable VSPHERE_IP

[Pipeline] echoVM IP: null
[Pipeline] echoBuild_id: 14
[Pipeline] }[Pipeline] // stage[Pipeline] }[Pipeline] // node[Pipeline] End of PipelineFinished: SUCCESS
 

Custom log record:
Apr 17, 2018 6:14:17 PM FINE org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun
PowerOnVmPipeline #13 in /var/lib/jenkins/jobs/PowerOnVmPipeline/builds/13: result is set to SUCCESS java.lang.Exception at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun.setResult(WorkflowRun.java:738) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun.finish(WorkflowRun.java:747) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun.access$1100(WorkflowRun.java:142) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun$GraphL.onNewHead(WorkflowRun.java:1094) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsFlowExecution.notifyListeners(CpsFlowExecution.java:1413) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsThreadGroup$3.run(CpsThreadGroup.java:412) at org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.cps.CpsVmExecutorService$1.run(CpsVmExecutorService.java:35) at hudson.remoting.SingleLaneExecutorService$1.run(SingleLaneExecutorService.java:131) at jenkins.util.ContextResettingExecutorService$1.run(ContextResettingExecutorService.java:28) at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:511) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:266) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1149) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:624) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Apr 17, 2018 6:14:17 PM INFO org.jenkinsci.plugins.workflow.job.WorkflowRun finish
PowerOnVmPipeline #13 completed: SUCCESS

I confirm the issue, can't seem to pass anything to the host.

It looks like it should work, but it simply doesn't. I've tried both the ExposeGuestInfo class and the PowerOn class through the vSphere step, and despite the logs indicating that it was exposing an environment variable (in my case, with the IP address of a clone VM), the variable remains null. The relevant pipeline steps (e.g., with PowerOn) look like this:

vSphere buildStep: [$class: 'PowerOn', timeoutInSeconds: 180, vm: 'Vm1234'], serverName: 'My vSphere Cloud'
echo "VSPHERE_IP: ${env.VSPHERE_IP}"

But then the logs look like this:

00:00:08.972  [vSphere] Performing vSphere build step: "Power-On/Resume VM"
00:00:08.972  [vSphere] Attempting to use server configuration: "My vSphere Cloud"
00:00:39.341  [vSphere] Successfully retrieved IP for "Vm1234" : 10.50.50.133
00:00:39.341  [vSphere] Exposing 10.50.50.133 as environment variable VSPHERE_IP
00:00:39.381  [Pipeline] echo
00:00:39.381  VSPHERE_IP: null

As this is from a Pipeline job (I tried both Scripted and Declarative syntax), I expect that "run" is not an instance of AbstractBuild (as I expect it's a WorkflowRun instead), and thus it is simply calling env.put with the environment variable in question, according to the source.

I guess there's a fundamentally different way for environment variables to be set from Pipeline jobs, and it simply doesn't work as this plugin expects it to?

It works in a Freestyle job with these same build steps, so it does seem to come down to whether the build in question is an AbstractBuild or not.