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ms.date ms.topic keywords title
06/12/2017
conceptual
dsc,powershell,configuration,setup
Composite resources--Using a DSC configuration as a resource

Composite resources: Using a DSC configuration as a resource

Applies To: Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows PowerShell 5.0

In real-world situations, configurations can become long and complex, calling many different resources and setting a vast number of properties. To help address this complexity, you can use a Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC) configuration as a resource for other configurations. We call this a composite resource. A composite resource is a DSC configuration that takes parameters. The parameters of the configuration act as the properties of the resource. The configuration is saved as a file with a .schema.psm1 extension, and takes the place of both the MOF schema and the resource script in a typical DSC resource (for more information about DSC resources, see Windows PowerShell Desired State Configuration Resources.

Creating the composite resource

In our example, we create a configuration that invokes a number of existing resources to configure virtual machines. Instead of specifying the values to be set in configuration blocks, the configuration takes a number of parameters that are then used in the configuration blocks.

Configuration xVirtualMachine
{
    param
    (
        # Name of VMs
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String[]] $VMName,

        # Name of Switch to create
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $SwitchName,

        # Type of Switch to create
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $SwitchType,

        # Source Path for VHD
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $VHDParentPath,

        # Destination path for diff VHD
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $VHDPath,

        # Startup Memory for VM
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $VMStartupMemory,

        # State of the VM
        [Parameter(Mandatory)]
        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
        [String] $VMState
    )

    # Import the module that defines custom resources
    Import-DscResource -Module xComputerManagement,xHyper-V

    # Install the Hyper-V role
    WindowsFeature HyperV
    {
        Ensure = "Present"
        Name = "Hyper-V"
    }

    # Create the virtual switch
    xVMSwitch $SwitchName
    {
        Ensure = "Present"
        Name = $SwitchName
        Type = $SwitchType
        DependsOn = "[WindowsFeature]HyperV"
    }

    # Check for Parent VHD file
    File ParentVHDFile
    {
        Ensure = "Present"
        DestinationPath = $VHDParentPath
        Type = "File"
        DependsOn = "[WindowsFeature]HyperV"
    }

    # Check the destination VHD folder
    File VHDFolder
    {
        Ensure = "Present"
        DestinationPath = $VHDPath
        Type = "Directory"
        DependsOn = "[File]ParentVHDFile"
    }

    # Create VM specific diff VHD
    foreach ($Name in $VMName)
    {
        xVHD "VHD$Name"
        {
            Ensure = "Present"
            Name = $Name
            Path = $VHDPath
            ParentPath = $VHDParentPath
            DependsOn = @("[WindowsFeature]HyperV",
                          "[File]VHDFolder")
        }
    }

    # Create VM using the above VHD
    foreach($Name in $VMName)
    {
        xVMHyperV "VMachine$Name"
        {
            Ensure = "Present"
            Name = $Name
            VhDPath = (Join-Path -Path $VHDPath -ChildPath $Name)
            SwitchName = $SwitchName
            StartupMemory = $VMStartupMemory
            State = $VMState
            MACAddress = $MACAddress
            WaitForIP = $true
            DependsOn = @("[WindowsFeature]HyperV",
                          "[xVHD]VHD$Name")
        }
    }
}

Saving the configuration as a composite resource

To use the parameterized configuration as a DSC resource, save it in a directory structure like that of any other MOF-based resource, and name it with a .schema.psm1 extension. For this example, we’ll name the file xVirtualMachine.schema.psm1. You also need to create a manifest named xVirtualMachine.psd1 that contains the following line. Note that this is in addition to MyDscResources.psd1, the module manifest for all resources under the MyDscResources folder.

RootModule = 'xVirtualMachine.schema.psm1'

When you are done, the folder structure should be as follows.

$env: psmodulepath
    |- MyDscResources
           MyDscResources.psd1
        |- DSCResources
            |- xVirtualMachine
                |- xVirtualMachine.psd1
                |- xVirtualMachine.schema.psm1

The resource is now discoverable by using the Get-DscResource cmdlet, and its properties are discoverable by either that cmdlet or by using Ctrl+Space auto-complete in the Windows PowerShell ISE.

Using the composite resource

Next we create a configuration that calls the composite resource. This configuration calls the xVirtualMachine composite resource to create a virtual machine, and then calls the xComputer resource to rename it.

configuration RenameVM
{

    Import-DscResource -Module TestCompositeResource
    Node localhost
    {
        xVirtualMachine VM
        {
            VMName = "Test"
            SwitchName = "Internal"
            SwitchType = "Internal"
            VhdParentPath = "C:\Demo\VHD\RTM.vhd"
            VHDPath = "C:\Demo\VHD"
            VMStartupMemory = 1024MB
            VMState = "Running"
        }
    }

    Node "192.168.10.1"
    {
        xComputer Name
        {
            Name = "SQL01"
            DomainName = "fourthcoffee.com"
        }
    }
}

Supporting PsDscRunAsCredential

Note: PsDscRunAsCredential is supported in PowerShell 5.0 and later.

The PsDscRunAsCredential property can be used in DSC configurations resource block to specify that the resource should be run under a specified set of credentials. For more information, see Running DSC with user credentials.

To access the user context from within a custom resource, you can use the automatic variable $PsDscContext.

For example the following code would write the user context under which the resource is running to the verbose output stream:

if ($PsDscContext.RunAsUser) {
    Write-Verbose "User: $PsDscContext.RunAsUser";
}

See Also

Concepts