PowerShell Team
Automating the world one-liner at a time…
Latest posts
PowerShell DSC Resource Kit Wave 5 Arrives
The PowerShell DSC Resource Kit Wave 5 is now available for your use. This wave contains 10 new DSC resources, taking us up to 77 total resources between the Resource Kits and what is shipping in Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2. In response to a number of requests, DSC Reskit Wave 5 also includes an end-to-end example, with a configuration for WordPress deployments. Here’s a link to the updates in DSC Resource Kit Wave 5. You can also find them by using PowerShellGet. In addition to the new resources and the example configurations, we have also made some updates to existing resources based on feedback we ...
DSC Resource Kit Wave 4 is Live!
The value and number of PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) resources coming from Microsoft continues to grow. As of the release of DSC Resource Kit Wave 3, we were up to 50 total. Now, we're happy to announce the DSC Resource Kit Wave 4. This wave contains 16 new DSC resources, taking us up to 67 total resources between the Resource Kit and what is shipping in Windows 8.1/Server 2012 R2. Here’s a link to the new items in the DSC Resource Kit Wave 4. You can also find them by using PowerShellGet. Now, you might be thinking, "That is an awful lot of resources. Am I ...
PowerShell: predict the future via TechEd
PowerShell: predict the future via TechEd Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson talks about Windows PowerShell and the future of the technology Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Where ever I go, people always want to know about what is coming up next. What is our roadmap for management. Or, what is the future of PowerShell. The future of PowerShell? Dude, this one is easy. Windows PowerShell is mission critical, and is central to our management strategy. All enterprise products are adding more and more Windows PowerShell to their systems. A good way to look into the future, is to look at Te...
How to retrieve node information from DSC pull server
NOTE - The latest information regarding DSC Pull Service can be found in the DSC documentation using the link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/pullserver .......... As described in “Push vs. Pull Mode” blog, DSC configuration can be applied on target nodes using pull or push mechanism. In this blog I will talk about how to retrieve node information from DSC pull server. When the node pulls a configuration from the pull server and applies it locally, the pull can either succeed or fail. DSC compliance endpoint stores the pull operation status, configuration and node information in a database. Com...
Wish I can author DSC Resource in C#!!
In previous blog, we learned how one can use their PowerShell skills to author DSC resources very easily. Still there are folks (we met some at TechEd NA) who want to author their DSC resources using C# because they are more productive with it than PowerShell language. Well, you can fully leverage the power of DSC by writing your resources in C#. In this blog, we will explore how you can write a C# based DSC resource and later seamlessly consume it from your DSC Configurations. Authoring DSC resources in C# For the purpose of this blog, we will write a DSC resource named “xDemoFile”. This resource wil...
Setting up an Internal PowerShellGet Repository
At TechEd, we announced and released an early version of PowerShellGet: a package manager for PowerShell modules. The response was positive, and many people asked the same type of question: “Can I set up my own internal repository for PowerShellGet?” Many enterprise-oriented houses want the ability to create private module repositories (without sharing them with the world). Many security minded folks want to curate their own module collections. The short answer to this question is: yes! All you need to do is create your own NuGet Server and redefine a couple of ...
Announcing Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration for Linux
For those of you fortunate enough to be at TechEd North America last week, you might have seen Jeffrey Snover announcing Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) for Linux! (If you missed that session, you can watch a replay of it online). We are excited to announce the initial availability of this feature with the release of a CTP of DSC for Linux at GitHub.com. With DSC for Linux, you can now use the same platform to concurrently manage the configuration of your Windows and Linux computers. We are actively developing DSC for Linux and will continue to improve and extend it going forward. Bring...
Windows Management Framework 5.0 Preview May 2014 is now available
We’re excited to announce Windows Management Framework 5.0 Preview May 2014, a new package publicizing new and exciting management technologies, is now available for download on Download Center! This version of the preview includes everything in the Windows Management Framework 5.0 Preview that was released in April of 2014 and a new module called PowerShellGet. This new package installs exclusively on Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2. If WMF 5.0 Preview (April 2014) is already installed on the machine, WMF 5.0 Preview (April 2014) must be uninstalled in order to install WMF 5.0 Preview ...
Understanding Import-DscResource Keyword in Desired State Configuration
Desired State Configuration resources are used to model and change the state of different components of the system. In an earlier blog post, we discussed details about deploying and discovering those resources and introduced Import-DscResource dynamic keyword. In this post, we will discuss some more details about the usage and internal working of this dynamic keyword. This keyword is only available inside configuration block. Its syntax looks like PowerShell cmdlet but it’s not a cmdlet and behaves differently. When authoring the DSC configuration in ISE, the PowerShell parser, pro...