Building Custom DSC Resources

Abstract

The resource modules are the heart of configuration management using the management platform provided by Desired State Configuration (DSC). The initial release of DSC, as a part of WMF 4.0, included only 12 built-in resources. These resources enable basic management of a target system, which includes modules for unpacking zip archives, installing and uninstalling MSI and setup packages, managing services, processes, managing Windows roles and features, and so on. While these built-in resources are a good starting point, there are still quite a few gaps and scope for creating DSC resources. DSC as a management platform provides a framework for creating custom DSC resources. It is important for administrators and developers alike to understand how to create custom DSC resource modules. For administrators, this knowledge provides a way to go beyond what is offered by DSC in-box. Developers can leverage the knowledge of writing custom DSC resources to provide support for configuring the applications they are developing using DSC.