Desired State Configuration

Organizing files

TODO Add information from:

• Separating configuration and environment data

Common Problems

Notice that the version of the local modules (DscResources) should match the version of the remote. Otherwise, you may see an error such as:

The powershell dsc resource cChocoInstaller from module cChoco <BLAH VERSION> does not exist at the powershell module path nor is it registered as a wmi dsc resource.

Managing Disks

[See also notes in "Files, Paths, and Disks ---> Managing Disks"; again the notes are from Essential PowerShell Cmdlets for Auditing and Maintaining Storage.]

You can use the xStorage module to manage storage using DSC. A sample script follows:

Configuration DataDisks
{
    Import-DscResource -ModuleName xStorage
    Node Localhost
    {
        xWaitForDisk Disk2
        {
            DiskNumber = 2
            RetryIntervalSec = 60
            RetryCount = 60
        }
        xDisk GVolume
        {
            DiskNumber = 2
            DriveLetter = 'G'
            FSLabel = 'UserData'
        }
    }
}
DataDisks -outputpath c:DataDisks
Start-DscConfiguration -Path c:dataDisks -wait -force -Verbose

To install the module and make sure that it does exist use:

Install-Module xStorage
Get-DSCResource

Managing Software

Visual Studio Code

It is possible to configure VS Code using DSC and the vscode module. See instructions here.

TODO : Outline steps here. Unlike article, it should be better to install the program with Chocolatey, using the cChoco module.

Troubleshooting

TODO: Summarize steps from https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/troubleshooting

The xDscDiagnostics module is very helpful for debugging DSC.

You may also need to enable the Analytic and Debug logs:

Update-xDscEventLogStatus -Channel Analytic -Status Enabled
Update-xDscEventLogStatus -Channel Debug -Status Enabled

On the machine that is the target of the configuration, use the command: Get-DscLocalConfigurationManager to get the state of the configuration manager. Use Get-xDscOperation to get an idea of whether progress is being made.

Resetting DSC

If with the command Get-DscLocalConfigurationManageryou get the message:

LCM is performing a consistency check.

for a long time, it is possible that the manager is stuck somehow.

The configuration state is stored in %windir%\system32\Configuration. To see what is there:

Get-ChildItem -Path 'C:\Windows\System32\Configuration' -File -Force

To remove the current state:

Remove-DscConfigurationDocument -Stage Current, Pending, Previous -Verbose
Remove-DscConfigurationDocument -Stage Current, Pending, Previous -Verbose -Force

However, before removing stop the service:

$dscProcessID = Get-WmiObject msft_providers |
Where-Object {$_.provider -like 'dsccore'} |
Select-Object -ExpandProperty HostProcessIdentifier

Get-Process -Id $dscProcessID | Stop-Process -Force