September 19th, 2019

DSC Resource Kit Release September 2019

Michael Greene
Michael Greene
Principal Group Program Manager

We just released the DSC Resource Kit!

This release includes updates to 15 DSC resource modules. In the past 6 weeks, 160 pull requests have been merged and 68 issues have been closed, all thanks to our amazing community!

The modules updated in this release are:

  • ActiveDirectoryCSDsc 4.1.0.0
  • ActiveDirectoryDsc 4.1.0.0
  • ComputerManagementDsc 7.0.0.0
  • DFSDsc 4.4.0.0
  • NetworkingDsc 7.4.0.0
  • SecurityPolicyDsc 2.10.0.0
  • SqlServerDsc 13.2.0.0
  • xDnsServer 1.15.0.0
  • xExchange 1.29.0.0
  • xFailOverCluster 1.13.0.0
  • xPSDesiredStateConfiguration 8.10.0.0
  • xRemoteDesktopSessionHost 1.9.0.0
  • xSCSMA 2.1.0.0
  • xWebAdministration 2.8.0.0

For a detailed list of the resource modules and fixes in this release, see the Included in this Release section below.

Our latest community call for the DSC Resource Kit was last Wednesday, September 11. A recording of the call is posted on the PowerShell YouTube channel. You can join us for the next call at 12PM (Pacific time) on August 28th to ask questions and give feedback about your experience with the DSC Resource Kit.

The next DSC Resource Kit release will be on Wednesday, October 9.

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)!

Please see our documentation here for information on the support of these resource modules.

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
ActiveDirectoryCSDsc 4.1.0.0
  • AdcsCertificationAuthoritySettings:
    • Fix grammar in the resource README.md.
  • Fix minor style issues in statement case.
ActiveDirectoryDsc 4.1.0.0
    • We could not add the change log to the release notes due to the length of the change log. What have change in this release can be found here

https://github.com/PowerShell/ActiveDirectoryDsc/blob/dev/CHANGELOG.md#4100

    .
ComputerManagementDsc 7.0.0.0
  • ScheduledTask:
    • Better compatibility with Group LogonType when passing BuiltIn groups through ExecuteAsCredential
      • Primary use case is “BUILTIN\Users”
      • Use the ExecuteAsCredential property to pass the username The PSCredential needs a non-null that is ignored
    • Delay property not handled properly on AtLogon and AtStartup trigger – Fixes Issue 230
    • Changed Get-ScheduledTask calls to ScheduledTasks\Get-ScheduledTask to avoid name clash with Carbon module. Fixes Issue 248
    • Cast MultipleInstances value returned by Get-TargetResource to string – fixes Issue 255
  • PendingReboot:
    • Migrated xPendingReboot from xPendingReboot and renamed to PendingReboot.
    • Converted to meet HQRM guidelines – Fixes Issue 12.
    • Changed SkipCcmClientSDK parameter to default to $true – Fixes Issue 13.
    • Fixed Test-TargetResource so that if ConfigMgr requires a reboot then the pending reboot will be set – Fixes Issue 26.
    • Refactored Test-TargetResource to reduce code duplication and move to a data driven design.
    • Refactored Get-TargetResource by adding a new function Get-PendingRebootState so that Test-TargetResource no longer needed to use Get-TargetResource. This eliminated the need to include write parameters in Get-TargetResource.
    • Converted the call to Invoke-WmiMethod to Invoke-CimMethod.
    • Deleted the code that removes the regRebootLocations variable at the end of the resource as it appears to serve no purpose.
  • Correct all tests to meet Pester 4.0 standards.
  • RemoteDesktopAdmin:
    • New resource for configuring Remote Desktop for Administration – fixes Issue 224.
  • Updated common function Test-DscParameterState to support ordered comparison of arrays by copying function and tests from NetworkingDsc – fixes Issue 250.
  • BREAKING CHANGE: ScheduledTask:
    • Correct output type of DaysInterval,StartTime,WeeksDaysOfWeek, and WeeksInterval parameters from Get-TargetResource to match MOF.
    • Refactored Get-TargetResource to remove parameters that are not key or required – fixes Issue 249.
    • Added function Test-DateStringContainsTimeZone to determine if a string containing a date time includes a time zone.
    • Enable verbose preference to be passed through to Test-DscParameterState.
    • Changed Test-TargetResource so that StartTime is only compared for trigger types Daily,Weekly or Once.
  • Fix minor style issues in statement case.
DFSDsc 4.4.0.0
  • Fix example publish to PowerShell Gallery by adding gallery_api environment variable to AppVeyor.yml – fixes Issue 91.
  • Fix minor style issues in statement case.
NetworkingDsc 7.4.0.0
  • Added Comment Based Help for New-NotImplementedException common function – fixes Issue 411.
  • Added common function “Format-Win32NetworkADapterFilterByNetConnectionID” to properly accept wild cards for Win32_NetworkAdapter filters.
  • Updated MSFT_Netbios to use “Format-Win32NetworkADapterFilterByNetConnectionID”
  • Corrected minor style and consistency issues in NetworkingDsc.Common.tests.ps1 and NetworkingDsc.Common.ps1.
  • Changed verbose messages in Test-DscParameterState to include full type name.
  • Fixed bug in Test-DscParameterState that causes it to return true when both the current array and desired array is empty.
  • Fix minor style issues in statement case.
SecurityPolicyDsc 2.10.0.0
  • Changes to SecurityPolicyDsc
    • Opt-in to the following DSC Resource Common Meta Tests:
      • Common Tests – Validate Module Files
      • Common Tests – Validate Script Files
      • Common Tests – Validate Markdown Files
      • Common Tests – Required Script Analyzer Rules
      • Common Tests – Flagged Script Analyzer Rules
      • Common Tests – New Error-Level Script Analyzer Rules
      • Common Tests – Custom Script Analyzer Rules
      • Common Tests – Validate Markdown Links
      • Common Tests – Relative Path Length
      • Common Tests – Validate Example Files
      • Common Tests – Validate Example Files To Be Published
    • Fix keywords to lower-case to align with guideline.
SqlServerDsc 13.2.0.0
  • Changes to SqlServerDsc
    • Fix keywords to lower-case to align with guideline.
    • Fix keywords to have space before a parenthesis to align with guideline.
xDnsServer 1.15.0.0
xExchange 1.29.0.0
  • Enable Script Analyzer default rules
  • Fixed keywords in upper case
xFailOverCluster 1.13.0.0
  • Updated the xCluster test method to return true if a node is joined to the cluster but is in a Paused state.
xPSDesiredStateConfiguration 8.10.0.0
  • Changes to xPSDesiredStateConfiguration
    • Fix keywords to lower-case to align with guideline.
  • Added SMB PullServer support for publishing.
xRemoteDesktopSessionHost 1.9.0.0
  • Changes to xRDRemoteApp
    • Fixing typo in parameter name when calling the function ValidateCustomModeParameters (issue 50).
  • Changes to xRDSessionDeployment
    • When RDMS service does not exist the Get-TargetResource will no longer throw an error (issue 47).
  • Rename Tests/Unit folder to use upper case on first letter.
  • Update appveyor.yml to use the default template.
  • Added default template files .codecov.yml, .gitattributes, and .gitignore, and .vscode folder.
  • xRDSessionCollectionConfiguration:
    • Changed CollectionName variable validation max length to 256
  • xRDSessionCollection
    • Changed CollectionName variable validation max length to 256
  • xRDRemoteApp
    • Changed CollectionName variable validation max length to 256
xSCSMA 2.1.0.0
  • Update appveyor.yml to use the default template.
  • Added default template files .codecov.yml, .gitattributes, and .gitignore, and .vscode folder.
  • Closed issue 29 – Web bindings fail due to hardcoded WSE
  • Switched from Get-WmiObject Win32_Product to Get-ItemProperty for identifer number
xWebAdministration 2.8.0.0
  • Fix multiple HTTPS bindings on one xWebsite receiving the first binding”s certificate 332
    • Added unit regression test
  • Changes to xWebsite
    • Added ServerAutoStart (controls website autostart) and changed documentation for ServiceAutoStartEnabled (controls application auto-initialization). Fixes 325.
    • Fix multiple HTTPS bindings on one xWebsite receiving the first binding”s certificate 332
      • Added unit regression test
    • Changes to xWebAppPool
      • Fix false Test-TargetResource failure for logEventOnRecycle if items in the Configuration property are specified in a different order than IIS natively stores them 434
    • Changes to xIisModule
      • Fixed the parameters specification for the internal Get-IISHandler and Remove-IISHandler function

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 starting in WMF 5.0) to find modules with DSC Resources:

# To list all modules that tagged as DSCResourceKit
Find-Module -Tag DSCResourceKit 
# To list all DSC resources from all sources 
Find-DscResource

Please note only those modules released by the PowerShell Team are currently considered part of the ‘DSC Resource Kit’ regardless of the presence of the ‘DSC Resource Kit’ tag in the PowerShell Gallery.

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:

Update-Module

After installing modules, you can discover all DSC resources available to your local system with this command:

Get-DscResource

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 CertificateDsc module, go to: https://github.com/PowerShell/CertificateDsc.

All DSC modules are also listed as submodules of the DscResources repository in the DscResources folder and 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.

Michael Greene Principal Program Manager PowerShell DSC Team @migreene (Twitter) @mgreenegit (GitHub)

Category
PowerShell
Topics
Desired State ConfigurationDSCDSC Resource KitDSC ResourcesWindows PowerShell Desired State Configuration

Author

Michael Greene
Michael Greene
Principal Group Program Manager

Microsoft Principal Group Program Manager focused on PowerShell and command line experiences for Azure cloud. Previously, I worked on Azure Guest Configuration, PowerShell Desired State Configuration, was a member of the Windows Server CAT team focused on PowerShell, and I was a PM and a Service Engineer in Office 365. Before moving to engineering, I was the nationwide technical sales person for Windows Server in Education.

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  • Mike Shivtorov

    formatting of all code blocks in the article is broken 🙁

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