We just released the DSC Resource Kit!

This release includes updates to 14 DSC resource modules. In the past 6 weeks, 41 pull requests have been merged and 54 issues have been closed, all thanks to our amazing community!

The modules updated in this release are:

ActiveDirectoryCSDsc

AuditPolicyDsc

CertificateDsc

ComputerManagementDsc

NetworkingDsc

SecurityPolicyDsc

SqlServerDsc

StorageDsc

xActiveDirectory

xBitlocker

xExchange

xFailOverCluster

xHyper-V

xWebAdministration

Several of these modules were released to remove the hidden files/folders from this issue. This issue should now be fixed for all modules except DFSDsc which is waiting for some fixes to its tests.

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 today, January 9. A recording is available on YouTube here. Join us for the next call at 12PM (Pacific time) on February 13 to ask questions and give feedback about your experience with the DSC Resource Kit.

The next DSC Resource Kit release will be on Wednesday, February 20.

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 3.1.0.0 Updated LICENSE file to match the Microsoft Open Source Team standard.

Added .VSCode settings for applying DSC PSSA rules – fixes Issue 60.

Added fix for two tier PKI deployment fails on initial deployment, not error – fixes Issue 57. AuditPolicyDsc 1.4.0.0 Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package CertificateDsc 4.3.0.0 Updated certificate import to only use Import-CertificateEx – fixes Issue 161

Update LICENSE file to match the Microsoft Open Source Team standard -fixes Issue 164.

Opted into Common Tests – fixes Issue 168: Required Script Analyzer Rules Flagged Script Analyzer Rules New Error-Level Script Analyzer Rules Custom Script Analyzer Rules Validate Example Files To Be Published Validate Markdown Links Relative Path Length

CertificateExport: Fixed bug causing PFX export with matchsource enabled to fail – fixes Issue 117

ComputerManagementDsc 6.1.0.0 Updated LICENSE file to match the Microsoft Open Source Team standard. Fixes Issue 197.

Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package NetworkingDsc 6.3.0.0 MSFT_IPAddress: Updated to allow retaining existing addresses in order to support cluster configurations as well

SecurityPolicyDsc 2.7.0.0 Bug fix – Issue 83 – Network_access_Remotely_accessible_registry_paths_and_subpaths correctly applies multiple paths

Update LICENSE file to match the Microsoft Open Source Team standard SqlServerDsc 12.2.0.0 Changes to SqlServerDsc During testing in AppVeyor the Build Worker is restarted in the install step to make sure the are no residual changes left from a previous SQL Server install on the Build Worker done by the AppVeyor Team (issue 1260). Code cleanup: Change parameter names of Connect-SQL to align with resources. Updated README.md in the Examples folder. Added a link to the new xADObjectPermissionEntry examples in ActiveDirectory, fixed a broken link and a typo. Adam Rush (@adamrushuk) Change to SqlServerLogin so it doesn”t check properties for absent logins. Fix for (issue 1096)

StorageDsc 4.4.0.0 Refactored module folder structure to move resource to root folder of repository and remove test harness – fixes Issue 169.

Updated Examples to support deployment to PowerShell Gallery scripts.

Removed limitation on using Pester 4.0.8 during AppVeyor CI.

Moved the Code of Conduct text out of the README.md and into a CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md file.

Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package xActiveDirectory 2.23.0.0 Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package xBitlocker 1.4.0.0 Change double quoted string literals to single quotes

Add spaces between array members

Add spaces between variable types and variable names

Add spaces between comment hashtag and comments

Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package xExchange 1.26.0.0 Add support for Exchange Server 2019

Added additional parameters to the MSFT_xExchUMService resource

Rename improperly named functions, and add comment based help in MSFT_xExchClientAccessServer, MSFT_xExchDatabaseAvailabilityGroupNetwork, MSFT_xExchEcpVirtualDirectory, MSFT_xExchExchangeCertificate, MSFT_xExchImapSettings.

Added additional parameters to the MSFT_xExchUMCallRouterSettings resource

Rename improper function names in MSFT_xExchDatabaseAvailabilityGroup, MSFT_xExchJetstress, MSFT_xExchJetstressCleanup, MSFT_xExchMailboxDatabase, MSFT_xExchMailboxDatabaseCopy, MSFT_xExchMailboxServer, MSFT_xExchMaintenanceMode, MSFT_xExchMapiVirtualDirectory, MSFT_xExchOabVirtualDirectory, MSFT_xExchOutlookAnywhere, MSFT_xExchOwaVirtualDirectory, MSFT_xExchPopSettings, MSFT_xExchPowershellVirtualDirectory, MSFT_xExchReceiveConnector, MSFT_xExchWaitForMailboxDatabase, and MSFT_xExchWebServicesVirtualDirectory.

Add remaining unit and integration tests for MSFT_xExchExchangeServer. xFailOverCluster 1.12.0.0 Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package xHyper-V 3.15.0.0 Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package xWebAdministration 2.4.0.0 Explicitly removed extra hidden files from release package

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