We just released the DSC Resource Kit!
This release includes updates to 10 DSC resource modules. In these past 6 weeks, 53 pull requests have been merged and 50 issues have been closed, all thanks to our amazing community!
The modules updated in this release are:
- SecurityPolicyDsc
- xAdcsDeployment
- xComputerManagement
- xDnsServer
- xExchange
- xNetworking
- xPSDesiredStateConfiguration
- xSQLServer
- xStorage
- xWebAdministration
For a detailed list of the resource modules and fixes in this release, see the Included in this Release section below.
Our last community call for the DSC Resource Kit was last week on Novemeber 8. A recording of our updates as well as summarizing notes will be available soon. Join us for the next call at 12PM (Pacific time) on December 20 to ask questions and give feedback about your experience with the DSC Resource Kit.
Also, due to the Christmas holiday, the next DSC Resource Kit release will go out on Decemeber 20 instead of the normal 6-week cadence which would be December 27.
We strongly encourage you to update to the newest version of all modules using the PowerShell Gallery, and don’t forget to give us your feedback in the comments below, on GitHub, or on Twitter (@PowerShell_Team)!
All resources with the ‘x’ prefix in their names are still experimental – this means that those resources are provided AS IS and are not supported through any Microsoft support program or service. If you find a problem with a resource, please file an issue on GitHub.
Included in this Release
You can see a detailed summary of all changes included in this release in the table below. For past release notes, go to the README.md or Changelog.md file on the GitHub repository page for a specific module (see the How to Find DSC Resource Modules on GitHub section below for details on finding the GitHub page for a specific module).
| Module Name |
Version |
Release Notes |
| SecurityPolicyDsc |
2.1.0.0 |
- Updated SecurityOption to handle multi-line logon messages
- SecurityOption: Added logic and example to handle scenario when using Interactive_logon_Message_text_for_users_attempting_to_log_on
|
| xAdcsDeployment |
1.3.0.0 |
- Updated to meet HQRM guidelines – fixes issue 33.
- Fixed markdown rule violations in README.MD.
- Change examples to meet HQRM standards and optin to Example validation tests.
- Replaced examples in README.MD to links to Example files.
- Added the VS Code PowerShell extension formatting settings that cause PowerShell files to be formatted as per the DSC Resource kit style guidelines.
- Opted into Common Tests “Validate Module Files” and “Validate Script Files”.
- Corrected description in manifest.
- Added .github support files:
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
- PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
- Resolved all PSScriptAnalyzer warnings and style guide warnings.
- Converted all tests to meet Pester V4 guidelines – fixes issue 32.
- Fixed spelling mistakes in README.MD.
- Fix to ensure exception thrown if failed to install or uninstall service – fixes issue 3.
- Converted AppVeyor.yml to use shared AppVeyor module in DSCResource.Tests – fixes issue 29.
|
| xComputerManagement |
3.1.0.0 |
- xOfflineDomainJoin:
- Updated to meet HQRM guidelines.
|
| xDnsServer |
1.9.0.0 |
- Added resource xDnsServerSetting
- MSFT_xDnsRecord: Added DnsServer property
|
| xExchange |
1.17.0.0 |
- Fix issue where test for Unlimited quota fails if quota is not already set at Unlimited
|
| xNetworking |
5.3.0.0 |
- MSFT_xProxySettings:
- Created new resource configuring proxy settings.
- MSFT_xDefaultGatewayAddress:
- Correct
2-SetDefaultGateway.md address family and improve example description – fixes Issue 275.
- MSFT_xIPAddress:
- Corrected style and formatting to meet HQRM guidelines.
- Converted exceptions to use ResourceHelper functions.
- Changed unit tests so that they can be run in any order.
- MSFT_xNetAdapterBinding:
- Corrected style and formatting to meet HQRM guidelines.
- Converted exceptions to use ResourceHelper functions.
|
| xPSDesiredStateConfiguration |
8.0.0.0 |
- xDSCWebService
- BREAKING CHANGE: The Pull Server will now run in a 64 bit IIS process by default. Enable32BitAppOnWin64 needs to be set to TRUE for the Pull Server to run in a 32 bit process.
|
| xSQLServer |
9.0.0.0 |
- Changes to xSQLServer
- Updated Pester syntax to v4
- Fixes broken links to issues in the CHANGELOG.md.
- Changes to xSQLServerDatabase
- Added parameter to specify collation for a database to be different from server collation (issue 767).
- Fixed unit tests for Get-TargetResource to ensure correctly testing return values (issue 849)
- Changes to xSQLServerAlwaysOnAvailabilityGroup
- Refactored the unit tests to allow them to be more user friendly and to test additional SQLServer variations.
- Each test will utilize the Import-SQLModuleStub to ensure the correct module is loaded (issue 784).
- Fixed an issue when setting the SQLServer parameter to a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) (issue 468).
- Fixed the logic so that if a parameter is not supplied to the resource, the resource will not attempt to apply the defaults on subsequent checks (issue 517).
- Made the resource cluster aware. When ProcessOnlyOnActiveNode is specified, the resource will only determine if a change is needed if the target node is the active host of the SQL Server instance (issue 868).
- Changes to xSQLServerAlwaysOnAvailabilityGroupDatabaseMembership
- Made the resource cluster aware. When ProcessOnlyOnActiveNode is specified, the resource will only determine if a change is needed if the target node is the active host of the SQL Server instance (issue 869).
- Changes to xSQLServerAlwaysOnAvailabilityGroupReplica
- Made the resource cluster aware. When ProcessOnlyOnActiveNode is specified, the resource will only determine if a change is needed if the target node is the active host of the SQL Server instance (issue 870).
- Added the CommonTestHelper.psm1 to store common testing functions.
- Added the Import-SQLModuleStub function to ensure the correct version of the module stubs are loaded (issue 784).
- Changes to xSQLServerMemory
- Made the resource cluster aware. When ProcessOnlyOnActiveNode is specified, the resource will only determine if a change is needed if the target node is the active host of the SQL Server instance (issue 867).
- Changes to xSQLServerNetwork
- BREAKING CHANGE: Renamed parameter TcpDynamicPorts to TcpDynamicPort and changed type to Boolean (issue 534).
- Resolved issue when switching from dynamic to static port. configuration (issue 534).
- Added localization (en-US) for all strings in resource and unit tests (issue 618).
- Updated examples to reflect new parameters.
- Changes to xSQLServerRSConfig
- Added resource
- xSQLServerDatabaseDefaultLocation (issue 656)
- Changes to xSQLServerEndpointPermission
- Fixed a problem when running the tests locally in a PowerShell console it would ask for parameters (issue 897).
- Changes to xSQLServerAvailabilityGroupListener
- Fixed a problem when running the tests locally in a PowerShell console it would ask for parameters (issue 897).
- Changes to xSQLServerMaxDop
- Made the resource cluster aware. When ProcessOnlyOnActiveNode is specified, the resource will only determine if a change is needed if the target node is the active host of the SQL Server instance (issue 882).
|
| xStorage |
3.3.0.0 |
- Opted into common tests for Module and Script files – See Issue 115.
- xDisk:
- Added support for Guid Disk Id type – See Issue 104.
- Added parameter AllowDestructive – See Issue 11.
- Added parameter ClearDisk – See Issue 50.
- xDiskAccessPath:
- Added support for Guid Disk Id type – See Issue 104.
- xWaitForDisk:
- Added support for Guid Disk Id type – See Issue 104.
- Added .markdownlint.json file to configure markdown rules to validate.
- Clean up Badge area in README.MD – See Issue 110.
- Disabled MD013 rule checking to enable badge table.
- Added .github support files:
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md
- PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
- Changed license year to 2017 and set company name to Microsoft Corporation in LICENSE.MD and module manifest – See Issue 111.
- Set Visual Studio Code setting “powershell.codeFormatting.preset” to “custom” – See Issue 108
- Added
Documentation and Examples section to Readme.md file – see issue 116.
- Prevent unit tests from DSCResource.Tests from running during test execution – fixes Issue 118.
|
| xWebAdministration |
1.19.0.0 |
- xWebAppPoolDefaults now returns values. Fixes 311.
- Added unit tests for xWebAppPoolDefaults. Fixes 183.
|
How to Find Released DSC Resource Modules
To see a list of all released DSC Resource Kit modules, go to the PowerShell Gallery and display all modules tagged as DSCResourceKit. You can also enter a module’s name in the search box in the upper right corner of the PowerShell Gallery to find a specific module.
Of course, you can also always use PowerShellGet (available in WMF 5.0) to find modules with DSC Resources:
# To list all modules that are part of the DSC Resource Kit
Find-Module -Tag DSCResourceKit
# To list all DSC resources from all sources
Find-DscResource
To find a specific module, go directly to its URL on the PowerShell Gallery:
http://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/< module name >
For example:
http://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/xWebAdministration
How to Install DSC Resource Modules From the PowerShell Gallery
We recommend that you use PowerShellGet to install DSC resource modules:
Install-Module -Name < module name >
For example:
Install-Module -Name xWebAdministration
To update all previously installed modules at once, open an elevated PowerShell prompt and use this command:
After installing modules, you can discover all DSC resources available to your local system with this command:
How to Find DSC Resource Modules on GitHub
All resource modules in the DSC Resource Kit are available open-source on GitHub.
You can see the most recent state of a resource module by visiting its GitHub page at:
https://github.com/PowerShell/< module name >
For example, for the xCertificate module, go to:
https://github.com/PowerShell/xCertificate.
All DSC modules are also listed as submodules of the DscResources repository in the xDscResources folder.
How to Contribute
You are more than welcome to contribute to the development of the DSC Resource Kit! There are several different ways you can help. You can create new DSC resources or modules, add test automation, improve documentation, fix existing issues, or open new ones.
See our contributing guide for more info on how to become a DSC Resource Kit contributor.
If you would like to help, please take a look at the list of open issues for the DscResources repository.
You can also check issues for specific resource modules by going to:
https://github.com/PowerShell/< module name >/issues
For example:
https://github.com/PowerShell/xPSDesiredStateConfiguration/issues
Your help in developing the DSC Resource Kit is invaluable to us!
Questions, comments?
If you’re looking into using PowerShell DSC, have questions or issues with a current resource, or would like a new resource, let us know in the comments below, on Twitter (@PowerShell_Team), or by creating an issue on GitHub.
Katie Keim
Software Engineer
PowerShell DSC Team
@katiedsc (Twitter)
@kwirkykat (GitHub)