win_dsc – Invokes a PowerShell DSC configuration

New in version 2.4.

Synopsis

  • Configures a resource using PowerShell DSC.
  • Requires PowerShell version 5.0 or newer.
  • Most of the options for this module are dynamic and will vary depending on the DSC Resource specified in resource_name.
  • See Desired State Configuration for more information on how to use this module.

Parameters

Parameter Choices/Defaults Comments
free_form
string / required
The win_dsc module takes in multiple free form options based on the DSC resource being invoked by resource_name.
There is no option actually named free_form so see the examples.
This module will try and convert the option to the correct type required by the DSC resource and throw a warning if it fails.
If the type of the DSC resource option is a CimInstance or CimInstance[], this means the value should be a dictionary or list of dictionaries based on the values required by that option.
If the type of the DSC resource option is a PSCredential then there needs to be 2 options set in the Ansible task definition suffixed with _username and _password.
If the type of the DSC resource option is an array, then a list should be provided but a comma separated string also work. Use a list where possible as no escaping is required and it works with more complex types list CimInstance[].
If the type of the DSC resource option is a DateTime, you should use a string in the form of an ISO 8901 string to ensure the exact date is used.
Since Ansible 2.8, Ansible will now validate the input fields against the DSC resource definition automatically. Older versions will silently ignore invalid fields.
module_version
string
Default:
"latest"
Can be used to configure the exact version of the DSC resource to be invoked.
Useful if the target node has multiple versions installed of the module containing the DSC resource.
If not specified, the module will follow standard PowerShell convention and use the highest version available.
resource_name
string / required
The name of the DSC Resource to use.
Must be accessible to PowerShell using any of the default paths.

Notes

Note

  • By default there are a few builtin resources that come with PowerShell 5.0, see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/dsc/resources/resources for more information on these resources.
  • Custom DSC resources can be installed with win_psmodule using the name option.
  • The DSC engine run’s each task as the SYSTEM account, any resources that need to be accessed with a different account need to have PsDscRunAsCredential set.
  • To see the valid options for a DSC resource, run the module with -vvv to show the possible module invocation. Default values are not shown in this output but are applied within the DSC engine.

Examples

- name: Extract zip file
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: Archive
    Ensure: Present
    Path: C:\Temp\zipfile.zip
    Destination: C:\Temp\Temp2

- name: Install a Windows feature with the WindowsFeature resource
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: WindowsFeature
    Name: telnet-client

- name: Edit HKCU reg key under specific user
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: Registry
    Ensure: Present
    Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ExampleKey
    ValueName: TestValue
    ValueData: TestData
    PsDscRunAsCredential_username: '{{ansible_user}}'
    PsDscRunAsCredential_password: '{{ansible_password}}'
  no_log: true

- name: Create file with multiple attributes
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: File
    DestinationPath: C:\ansible\dsc
    Attributes: # can also be a comma separated string, e.g. 'Hidden, System'
    - Hidden
    - System
    Ensure: Present
    Type: Directory

- name: Call DSC resource with DateTime option
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: DateTimeResource
    DateTimeOption: '2019-02-22T13:57:31.2311892+00:00'

# more complex example using custom DSC resource and dict values
- name: Setup the xWebAdministration module
  win_psmodule:
    name: xWebAdministration
    state: present

- name: Create IIS Website with Binding and Authentication options
  win_dsc:
    resource_name: xWebsite
    Ensure: Present
    Name: DSC Website
    State: Started
    PhysicalPath: C:\inetpub\wwwroot
    BindingInfo: # Example of a CimInstance[] DSC parameter (list of dicts)
    - Protocol: https
      Port: 1234
      CertificateStoreName: MY
      CertificateThumbprint: C676A89018C4D5902353545343634F35E6B3A659
      HostName: DSCTest
      IPAddress: '*'
      SSLFlags: '1'
    - Protocol: http
      Port: 4321
      IPAddress: '*'
    AuthenticationInfo: # Example of a CimInstance DSC parameter (dict)
      Anonymous: no
      Basic: true
      Digest: false
      Windows: yes

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Key Returned Description
module_version
string
always
The version of the dsc resource/module used.

Sample:
1.0.1
reboot_required
boolean
always
Flag returned from the DSC engine indicating whether or not the machine requires a reboot for the invoked changes to take effect.

Sample:
True
verbose_set
list
Ansible verbosity is -vvv or greater and a change occurred
The verbose output as a list from executing the DSC Set method.

Sample:
["Perform operation 'Invoke CimMethod' with the following parameters, ", '[SERVER]: LCM: [Start Set ] [[File]DirectResourceAccess]', "Operation 'Invoke CimMethod' complete."]
verbose_test
list
Ansible verbosity is -vvv or greater
The verbose output as a list from executing the DSC test method.

Sample:
["Perform operation 'Invoke CimMethod' with the following parameters, ", '[SERVER]: LCM: [Start Test ] [[File]DirectResourceAccess]', "Operation 'Invoke CimMethod' complete."]


Status

Authors

  • Trond Hindenes (@trondhindenes)

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