Desired State Configuration Flashcards
What does the aspect of DSC being idempotent mean?
Changes only affect configurations not in desired state, convergence to a desired state
What is a .mof file?
Management Object File, gets pushed to target computers
Enables cross-platform capability as converts powershell to ASCII standard that is universally interpreted
What is the PoSH command to call a DSC configuration?
-Computername -OutputPath
What is the PoSH command to push a DSC configuration to target nodes?
Start-DscConfiguration -Path (optional -Wait otherwise runs as background job)
What is the PoSH command to view built in DSC resources?
Get-DscResource
What is the PoSH command to view online DSC resources?
Find-DscResource
What does the x denote on a DSC module?
Experimental
What does the c denote on a DSC module?
Community (made)
What is a prerequisite for DSC to communicate?
WinRM service and listeners enabled
Configure Script Execution Policy
*DSC is built on CIM
What is the syntax to configure a .meta.mof?
LocalConfigurationManager {<code>}</code>
Configures a .meta.mof to be generated to target nodes</code>
What is the syntax to configure a .mof?
{<code>}</code>
Configures a .mof to be generated to target nodes</code>
What is the command to generate a meta.mof from a configuration?
Configure LCM agent of target
Set-DscLocalConfigurationManager
What is the command to generate a .mof from a configuration?
Start-DscConfigurationManager
What is the command to view the LCM of a computer?
Get-DscLocalConfigurationManager
What is the command to view the DSC configuration of a computer?
Get-DscConfiguration
What is the command to see if there is configuration drift?
Test-DscConfiguration
What are the types of pull server?
SMB
HTTP
HTTPS
What is an advantage of pull vs push server?
Pull server permits ability to perform complex logic regarding DSC requests it receives to apply specific configuration
Clients will “page fault” to import any resources they do not have from the pull server
Why is pull server more robust than push server?
Topology of nodes requesting configuration as of when they have connectivity to pull server +
Requests are more resilient due to stateful firewalls dynamically allowing requests from target nodes
How do you push a new configuration with a pending configuration that failed?
Start-DSCConfiguration -Path -ComputerName -Force
How to you remove current DSCConfigurations?
Remove-DscConfigurationDocument -Stage Current
How do you remove pending DSCConfigurations?
Remove-DSCConfigurationDocument -Stage Pending
How do you remove previous DSCConfigurations?
Remove-DSCConfigurationDocument -Stage Previous
How do you see if there is a failed DSCConfiguration?
Get-DSCConfigurationStatus
What is OneGet?
OneGet/PSGet is a package manager for other package managers
How are machines able to universally understand DSC?
It is a WMI provider, linux uses OMI
How are machines able to universally understand DSC?
It is a WMI provider, Linux uses OMI (open source version of WMI)
What is a repository?
A container of stuff
i.e PSGallery, Chocolatey
What is the purpose of a checksum in DSC?
Comparing current configuration against pull server to be efficient
What is important to do when updating a .mof on a pull server?
Update the corresponding checksum
What is configuration data for?
Specify unique attributes to machines such as role, then perform logic in configuration based on attributes about machines
How does depends on work in DSC?
Uses Directed Acyclic Graph to process things in order, specifying creates a dependency flow graph
