The DSC Resource Kit Wave 6 Is Available

The DSC Resource Kit Wave 6 has been released!

This wave contains 5 new DSC Resources, taking us up over 80 resources between the Resource Kit and what is shipping in Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2.

In addition to these resources we are rolling out today, you may have noticed that the SafeHarbor example was posted after the last Reskit was released. Rather than wait for Reskit Wave 6, we posted SafeHarbor early. We will do this from time to time, but you can count on these monthly Reskit announcements to roll up what has changed.

In addition to the new resources, we have also made some updates to existing resources based on feedback we have received. As a result, we have updated several of the modules, all of which will show up using the link above. Here’s
a link to the items updated in DSC Resource Kit Wave 6. You can also find them by using PowerShellGet.

Questions, Comments?

If you’re looking into using PowerShell DSC, but are blocked by a lack of resources, let us know in the comments or the TechNet QA Section.

What’s in this Wave?

This wave has added the following:

• xRemoteDesktopAdmin configures Remote Desktop settings and configures the Windows firewall to support Remote Desktop
• xAzureSqlDatabaseServerFirewallRule was added to the xAzure module, and creates Azure SQL Database Server Firewall Rules.
• xFireFox and xChrome enable deploying those browsers to a Windows system.
• xGroup has been added to xPsDesiredStateConfiguration, enhancing the in-box Group resource with support for cross-domain account lookup and UPN-formatted names.

As always, we must reiterate that these resources come without any guarantees.  The “x” prefix stands for experimental – which means these resources are provided AS IS and are not supported through any Microsoft support program or service. We will monitor the TechNet pages, take feedback, and may provide fixes moving forward.  Also, don’t forget to check out the community versions of many resources on PowerShell.Org’s GitHub.

Details

After installing the modules, you can discover all of the resources available by using the Get-DSCResource cmdlet.  Here is a brief description of each resource (for more details on a resource, check out the TechNet pages). 

Renaming Guidelines

When making changes to these resources, we urge the following practice:

1. Update the following names by replacing MSFT with your company/community name and replacing the “x” with “c” (short for “Community”) or another prefix of your choice:
1. Module name (ex: xWebAdministration becomes cWebAdministration)
2. Folder name (ex: MSFT_xWebsite becomes Contoso_cWebsite)
3. Resource Name (ex: MSFT_xWebsite becomes Contoso_cWebsite)
4. Resource Friendly Name (ex: xWebsite becomes cWebsite)
5. MOF class name (ex: MSFT_xWebsite becomes Contoso_cWebsite)
6. Filename for the <resource>.schema.mof (ex: MSFT_xWebsite.schema.mof becomes Contoso_cWebsite.schema.mof)
2. Update module and metadata information in the module manifest
3. Update any configuration that use these resources

We reserve resource and module names without prefixes (“x” or “c”) for future use (e.g. “MSFT_WebAdministration” or “Website”).  If the next version of Windows Server ships with a “Website” resource, we don’t want to break any configurations that use any community modifications.  Please keep a prefix such as “c” on all community modifications. 

As specified in the license, you may copy or modify this resource as long as they are used on the Windows Platform.

Requirements

Note: The DSC Resource Kit requires at least Windows 8.1 or Windows Server 2012 R2 with update KB2883200 (aka the GA Update Rollup). You can check whether it is installed by running the following command:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Get-HotFix -Id KB2883200

Source       Description      HotFixID     InstalledBy         InstalledOn             

——        ———–      ——–     ———–         ———–             

MyMachine   Update          KB2883200     MyMachine\Admini… 9/30/2013 12:00:00AM   

For most modules, you can use them on supported down-level versions of Windows by installing WMF 4.0. Refer to these previous blog posts for more information on WMF 4.0 and issues with partial installation.

A few modules will require the use of WMF 5.0. You can confirm the requirements for each module on the individual blog topics that provide the details for the module.