We just released the DSC Resource Kit!

This release includes updates to 11 DSC resource modules. In the past 6 weeks, 146 pull requests have been merged and 105 issues have been closed, all thanks to our amazing community!

The modules updated in this release are:

CertificateDsc

NetworkingDsc

SecurityPolicyDsc

SharePointDsc

SqlServerDsc

StorageDsc

xActiveDirectory

xDatabase

xExchange

xRemoteDesktopSessionHost

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 on August 29. A recording of our updates will be available on YouTube soon. Join us for the next call at 12PM (Pacific time) on October 10 to ask questions and give feedback about your experience with the DSC Resource Kit.

The next DSC Resource Kit release will be going out one week later than usual on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. This will not shift any other dates, so the community call will still be on October 10, and the following release will be on November 28.

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 CertificateDsc 4.2.0.0 Added a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md with the same content as in the README.md – fixes Issue 139.

Refactored module folder structure to move resource to root folder of repository and remove test harness – fixes Issue 142.

Updated Examples to support deployment to PowerShell Gallery scripts.

Correct configuration names in Examples – fixes Issue 150.

Correct filename case of CertificateDsc.Common.psm1 – fixes Issue 149.

– fixes Issue 149. Remove exclusion of all tags in appveyor.yml, so all common tests can be run if opt-in.

PfxImport: Added requirements to README.MD to specify cryptographic algorithm support – fixes Issue 153. Changed Path parameter to be optional to fix error when ensuring certificate is absent and certificate file does not exist on disk – fixes Issue 136. Removed ShouldProcess because it is not required by DSC Resources. Minor style corrections. Changed unit tests to be non-destructive. Improved naming and description of example files. Added localization string ID suffix for all strings.

Added .VSCode settings for applying DSC PSSA rules – fixes Issue 157. NetworkingDsc 6.1.0.0 MSFT_Firewall: Added full stop to end of MOF field descriptions. Support for [ , ] and * characters in the Name property added – fixes Issue 348. Improved unit tests to meet style guidelines.

SecurityPolicyDsc 2.5.0.0 Added handler for null value in SecurityOption

Moved the helper module out from DSCResource folder to the Modules folder.

Fixed SecurityPolicyResourceHelper.Tests.ps1 so it possible to run the tests locally.

Fixed minor typos. SharePointDsc 2.5.0.0 SPAppCatalog Updated resource to retrieve the Farm account instead of requiring it to be specifically used

SPDatabaseAAG Updated readme.md to specify that this resource also updates the database connection string

SPDiagnosticsProvider Fixed issue where enabling providers did not work

SPFarm Added ability to check and update CentralAdministrationPort

SPLogLevel Added High as TraceLevel, which was not included yet

SPRemoteFarmTrust Updated readme.md file to add a link that was lost during earlier updates

SPSearchServiceApp Updated Set method to check if service application pool exists. Resource will throw an error if it does not exist

SPSearchTopology Fixed issue where Get method threw an error when the specified service application didn’t exist yet Fixed issue where the resource would fail is the FQDN was specified

SPShellAdmins Added ExcludeDatabases parameter for AllDatabases

SPSite Added ability to check and update QuotaTemplate, OwnerAlias and SecondaryOwnerAlias

SPSiteUrl New resource to manage site collection urls for host named site collections

SPTrustedIdentityTokenIssuerProviderRealm Fixed issue where Get method threw an error when the realm didn’t exist yet

SPUserProfileServiceApp Fix for issue where an update conflict error was thrown when new service application was created Added SiteNamingConflictResolution parameter to the resource

SqlServerDsc 12.0.0.0 Changes to SqlServerDatabaseMail DisplayName is now properly treated as display name for the originating email address (issue 1200). Nick Reilingh (@NReilingh) DisplayName property now defaults to email address instead of server name. Minor improvements to documentation.

Changes to SqlAGDatabase Corrected reference to “PsDscRunAsAccount” in documentation (issue 1199). Nick Reilingh (@NReilingh)

Changes to SqlDatabaseOwner BREAKING CHANGE: Support multiple instances on the same node. The parameter InstanceName is now Key and cannot be omitted (issue 1197).

Changes to SqlSetup Added new parameters to allow to define the startup types for the Sql Engine service, the Agent service, the Analysis service and the Integration Service. The new optional parameters are respectively SqlSvcStartupType, AgtSvcStartupType, AsSvcStartupType, IsSvcStartupType and RsSvcStartupType (issue 1165. Maxime Daniou (@mdaniou)

StorageDsc 4.1.0.0 Enabled PSSA rule violations to fail build – Fixes Issue 149.

Fixed markdown rule violations in CHANGELOG.MD.

Disk: Corrected message strings. Added message when partition resize required but AllowDestructive parameter is not enabled. Fix error when Size not specified and AllowDestructive is $true and partition can be expanded – Fixes Issue 162. Fix incorrect error displaying when newly created partition is not made Read/Write. Change verbose messages to show warnings when a partition resize would have occured but the AllowDestructive flag is set to $false .

xActiveDirectory 2.21.0.0 Added xADObjectPermissionEntry New resource added to control the AD object permissions entries Claudio Spizzi (@claudiospizzi)

Changes to xADCommon Assert-Module has been extended with a parameter ImportModule to also import the module (issue 218). Jan-Hendrik Peters (@nyanhp)

Changes to xADDomain xADDomain makes use of new parameter ImportModule of Assert-Module in order to import the ADDSDeployment module (issue 218). Jan-Hendrik Peters (@nyanhp)

xADComputer, xADGroup, xADOrganizationalUnit and xADUser now support restoring from AD recycle bin (Issue 221). Jan-Hendrik Peters (@nyanhp) xDatabase 1.9.0.0 xDatabase Test-TargetResource will now check DacPacVersion if DacPacPath parameter and DB exist. If the DacPacApplicationVersion is supplied and matches the deployed version we will return $true. (issue 41) xExchange 1.23.0.0 Fixes issue with xExchMaintenanceMode on Exchange 2016 where the cluster does not get paused when going into maintenance mode. Also fixes issue where services fail to stop, start, pause, or resume.

Explicitly cast member types in Get-DscConfiguration return hashtables to align with the types defined in the resource schemas. Fixes an issue where Get-DscConfiguration fails to return a value.

xExchClientAccessServer: Fixes issue where AlternateServiceAccountConfiguration or RemoveAlternateServiceAccountCredentials parameters can”t be used at the same time as other optional parameters.

xExchInstall: Fixes issue where Test-TargetResource returns true if setup is running. Fixes issue where setup is not detected as having been successfully completed even if setup was successful. Adds initial set of unit tests for xExchInstall and related functions.

Remove VerbosePreference from function parameters and update all calls to changed functions.

Fixes multiple PSScriptAnalyzer issues. Specifically, fixes all instances of PSAvoidTrailingWhitespace, PSAvoidGlobalVars, PSAvoidUsingConvertToSecureStringWithPlainText, PSUseSingularNouns, and fixes many instances of PSUseDeclaredVarsMoreThanAssignments.

Add support for Exchange Server 2019 – Preview xRemoteDesktopSessionHost 1.8.0.0 Changes to xRDSessionDeployment Fixed issue where an initial deployment failed due to a convert to lowercase (issue 39). Added unit tests to test Get, Test and Set results in this resource.

Change to xRDRemoteApp Fixed issue where this resource ignored the CollectionName provided in the parameters (issue 41). Changed key values in schema.mof to only Alias and CollectionName, DisplayName and FilePath are not key values. Added Ensure property (Absent or Present) to enable removal of RemoteApps. Added unit tests to test Get, Test and Set results in this resource.

xWebAdministration 2.2.0.0 Added new parameter “Location” to WebApplcationHandler extending functionality to address [392]

extending functionality to address [392] Changes to xWebAdministration Update section header for WebApplicationHandler in README. Fix tests for helper function Get-LocalizedData in Helper.Tests.ps1 that referenced the wrong path.

Remove duplication in MSFT_xWebsite.psm1. Krzysztof Morcinek (@kmorcinek)

Updates xIISMimeTypeMapping to add MIME type mapping for nested paths

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.

Katie Keim Software Engineer PowerShell DSC Team @katiedsc (Twitter) @kwirkykat (GitHub)