ansible.windows.win_dsc module – Invokes a PowerShell DSC configuration

Note

This module is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 2.5.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_dsc.

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.

Parameters

Parameter

Comments

free_form

string / required

The ansible.windows.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.

module_version

string

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.

Default: "latest"

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/scripting/dsc/resources/resources for more information on these resources.

  • Custom DSC resources can be installed with community.windows.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.

  • The DSC engine requires the HTTP WSMan listener to be online and its port configured as the default listener for HTTP. This is set up by default but if a custom HTTP port is used or only a HTTPS listener is present then the module will fail. See the examples for a way to check this out in PowerShell.

  • The Local Configuration Manager LCM on the targeted host in question should be disabled to avoid any conflicts with resources being applied by this module. See https://devblogs.microsoft.com/powershell/invoking-powershell-dsc-resources-directly/ for more information on hwo to disable LCM.

Examples

- name: Verify the WSMan HTTP listener is active and configured correctly
  ansible.windows.win_shell: |
    $port = (Get-Item -LiteralPath WSMan:\localhost\Client\DefaultPorts\HTTP).Value
    $onlinePorts = @(Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath WSMan:\localhost\Listener |
        Where-Object { 'Transport=HTTP' -in $_.Keys } |
        Get-ChildItem |
        Where-Object Name -eq Port |
        Select-Object -ExpandProperty Value)

    if ($port -notin $onlinePorts) {
        "The default client port $port is not set up as a WSMan HTTP listener, win_dsc will not work."
    }

- name: Extract zip file
  ansible.windows.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
  ansible.windows.win_dsc:
    resource_name: WindowsFeature
    Name: telnet-client

- name: Edit HKCU reg key under specific user
  ansible.windows.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
  ansible.windows.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
  ansible.windows.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
  ansible.windows.win_psmodule:
    name: xWebAdministration
    state: present

- name: Create IIS Website with Binding and Authentication options
  ansible.windows.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: false
      Basic: true
      Digest: false
      Windows: true

Return Values

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

Key

Description

module_version

string

The version of the dsc resource/module used.

Returned: always

Sample: "1.0.1"

reboot_required

boolean

Flag returned from the DSC engine indicating whether or not the machine requires a reboot for the invoked changes to take effect.

Returned: always

Sample: true

verbose_set

list / elements=string

The verbose output as a list from executing the DSC Set method.

Returned: Ansible verbosity is -vvv or greater and a change occurred

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

verbose_test

list / elements=string

The verbose output as a list from executing the DSC test method.

Returned: Ansible verbosity is -vvv or greater

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

Authors

  • Trond Hindenes (@trondhindenes)